


Astrology or Astronomy

by Holycowbrowniekitty



Series: Libra and Sagittarius [1]
Category: Tennis no Oujisama | Prince of Tennis
Genre: Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-16
Updated: 2017-08-24
Packaged: 2018-12-03 02:36:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 50,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11522754
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Holycowbrowniekitty/pseuds/Holycowbrowniekitty
Summary: A boy, convinced that only womankind can satisfy his desires meets a boy that can manage to turn all men gay for him. The tale that transcends stars unfolds.





	1. The harsh truth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Just like that?"

“So you lost as well huh?”

Sengoku got jolted awake from his dreamlike stupor. That is to say, he was afraid that someone caught him staring at girls again and would tell them. “Hu-huh? Lost?”

“You’re Sengoku right? From Yamabuki’s tennis club?”, the stranger asked. A sweaty face was staring down at him.

“Oh yeah, that’s me, uh I guess.”, Sengoku said as he rubbernecked around to see if the ladies were still in the vicinity. They weren’t.  He sighed softly, while the stranger sat next to him, sipping his drink.

“Did I disturb you?”, he asked. His voice was really bright, Sengoku would note later.

“No, you didn’t, really.”, Sengoku said. The disappointment could not have been bigger, but he didn’t seem to notice.

“I haven’t introduced myself, have I? – did he really need to ask him -  I’m Rokkaku’s vice-captain, Saeki Kojirou.”

It wasn’t exactly the name Sengoku would bother to remember. Rokkaku...those were the guys from Chiba weren’t they? He couldn’t even bother remembering the schools from Tokyo, but this time the hexagonal name stood out for him.

“Oh, I’ve heard you guys have quite an impressive record, being veterans and all. It’s a shame huh~”, Sengoku whistled. Losing to an underdog school wouldn't look good on their record.

“You didn’t seem like the type to lose either. After all you’re Yamabuki’s ace.”, Saeki said.

“It’s kind of embarrassing for both of us aces to lose against mere second years huh...”, Sengoku said. He didn’t really know why he was sharing his self pity with this individual he had just met. Tennis probably made it a lot easier to approach people.

“The second year in my team is actually the ace.” Saeki grinned. “Next year the title will be left in good hands...”

Sengoku thought about the future generation of his team. He had the whimsical Kita, Kamakura and Dan. “I guess it will.”

“SAE-SAN, it’s time to return to Chiba!”, a boy yelled. “Don’t go wandering off all the time, honestly. You’re such a pain sometimes, if you are the vice-captain, act like it.”

“Kentarou, did you guys finish already?”, Saeki asked.

“Yeah, Davide was pretty fast. He fought a pretty straightforward match. Now let’s go.”, Aoi said. He ran off, and left a bewildered Saeki.

“Don’t worry about it, he’s a very polite kid.”, Saeki said. Sengoku mentally compared the matureness of Rokkaku’s first years with Dan. Would he really be alright without Akutsu?

“It was nice meeting you, Sengoku.”, Saeki said as he stood up and dusted off his jacket. Right before he left, he turned around and remarked one thing: ”That’s a nice wristband by the way, looks like it’s Libra?”

Before Sengoku could muster out an answer he had already disappeared. He looked at his wristband and traced the golden stitches that formed the constellation. It was just a toy thing he got from his weekly astrology magazine and it didn’t even match his constellation, but he imagined that he’d get some cute comments from Libra girls. Not from a fellow tennis player. Especially not a boy.

He’d have more luck next days.

* * *

 

The next time they met, Atobe held the joined school festival. Aside from Yamabuki hosting a Monjayaki tent, they also held a privilege for an inside booth, albeit it was very unsuccessful. Part of it had to do with the fact that none of the inside booth runners cared much for the business, except one. Kita, Nitobe and the jimmies were outside, attending the customers in the sunny sky. Inside, Sengoku, Akutsu, Muromachi and Dan were having an “fortune telling booth”, which translated into a small musky blanket, thrown over some construction beams in a ditched corner next to Seigaku's café. They didn’t win the booth contest that year.

It was probably because they had Akutsu guard the front of the closed tent. He and Dan were protecting the entrance and made sure that customers paid a price, before they were allowed inside to get their palm read or future predicted by the local lecher. Muromachi hid behind the tent and was in control of the fireworks and smoke machine. It added more authenticity, is what Sengoku had said.

The authenticity netted them a total of 5 customers. A couple of cute girls mustered up their courage and entered. Sengoku was overjoyed, until the couple mentioned that they wanted their romantic relationship predicted. Sengoku didn’t mind it, but he secretly hoped that the next customers were hopefully single. And in a way, it was true, because the next three were a bunch of first years that got dared by their seniors to talk with Akutsu. They didn’t even know what fortune telling was and showed no interest when Sengoku excitedly tried to explain it to them. Finally, he decided to just sound the smoke machine, which held their attention for two seconds, before it malfunctioned. Muromachi stumbled in, coughing and covering his face, and combined with his smoked sunglasses, the three boys ran away. At least the booth had a small profit now.

Sengoku was carefully packing his occult stuff away. He should have known that most really didn’t care about it the way he did. As he was trying to fit the raw chicken into a plastic bag, the sound of a shuffling curtain made him look up.

“Sengoku. I didn’t think I would find you here!”, Saeki-something said as he assessed the situation.

“Oh, Saeki, don’t you have to watch your own booth?”, Sengoku asked. He knew that it was a beach hut and that it was positioned across their Monjayaki hut, but he didn’t phantom it being really popular.

“Shudo arrived and he’s currently substituting for me. I told them I still wanted to check out the inner booths. We’ve been on a rotational shift for a while now. “, Saeki said. “I just came back from visiting Fuji and...you seem a bit occupied?”

Sengoku threw the chicken he had away behind the curtains, muttering a quick “Catch, Kamakura.”, and quickly seated himself, while motioning for Saeki to do the same.

“Tell the all-seeing Kiyosumin, what do you need?”

Smoke erupted from the backside, before the machine sputtered it’s last breath. Saeki looked at him quizzically. Sengoku coughed from beneath his self made astrological hoodie (it was really just an oversized blanket with ropes in the right places) and slid forward a yellow, laminated paper with the services printed on in colourful comic sans. He held Saeki’s gaze as the paper wobbled.

Saeki looked at the interesting deals. Palm reading, astrological life prediction, crystal globe fortune telling and even something special with tea leaves. There was also the raw chicken reading, but that one was crossed out with a marker.

“Astrological reading seems interesting...but I’ve never been palm read before either.”, Saeki mumbled.

“I can do both!”, Sengoku said as he jumped up excitedly. His hood had fallen, revealing a boyish smile. “Your, uh, hood.’, Saeki said as he slightly gestured. Sengoku quickly adjusted it and calmed down, a bit ashamed for his small outburst.

“Then can we do the astrological reading?”, Saeki suggested.

“What is troubling you, tell all to the all-seeing Kiyosumin.”, Sengoku said, as he awkwardly reached behind his back to pull out his guidebook _Astrology for dummies._  “Career, studies, relationships, yes, even love I can see.”, he said. The word love was especially pressed upon.

“Hm, I would like to know how our juniors will do the following years.”, Saeki answered.

“Only that?”, Sengoku asked. That was a very plain request. “You know I can predict with like 54% accuracy who you will end up with later in life right?”

“I’m not all that interested in relationships right now, I’d rather focus on studies.”, Saeki chuckled. Sengoku was perplexed. “Huh, so if in a hypothetical situation, a girl were to confess her sweet love to you, you would reject it? Would you?”

As Sengoku leaned forward, Saeki lent backwards. “Well, I’m not saying I would, especially if she’s really cute and all but...”

“SO YOU DO CARE ABOUT GIRLS!”, Sengoku yelled. “I’ll throw a free reading on your love life in right now.”

“But what about the nationals?”, the vice-captain asked. “Ah uh, wait, the stars say that uh, I see the number six and, black I think? Are there any foreigners in your team?”

“I don’t believe so.”, Saeki said.

“I guess you guys won’t be getting the nationals.”, Sengoku silently muttered under his breath. “It’s nothing, the future is still open. I believe you guys have a great chance at the nationals!”, he reassured with a smile.

“That’s nice to hear.”, Saeki said, as he wondered how he could see all that without using a crystal globe, or anything with the stars. Was he perhaps seeing things that Saeki couldn’t?

“But now the interesting part-“, Saeki felt a strange atmosphere rising from Sengoku, “-your future love~”

He clasped both of Saeki’s hands in his and stared at him. It was a very new feeling for Saeki, the cool clammy hands of the other restraining his wrist movement. He would’ve liked it a lot more if Sengoku’s hands hadn’t been molesting a raw chicken before, but those were unnecessary details.

Sengoku was about to ask something, but suddenly the answer popped up in his head. “You’re a Libra right?”

“Huh, yeah I am, how did you know, did Kentarou tell you or so?”, Saeki asked.

It seemed like Saeki didn’t remember their silly encounter at the nationals. He was a bit sad.

“Just a hunch. Tell me, what time were you born, when, where, what circumstances and what blood type do you have.”

Saeki felt a bit bombarded by the questions, but nevertheless tried to describe the situation as accurate as possible. It’s not like Sengoku would be able to do much with that information anyway, outside of his astrological prediction.

“Today is...a Saturday, currently at 4 pm and the suns stand should be...”

This kind of mumbling continued. Saeki wasn’t sure whether Sengoku was deep in thought or taking a peek at the manual he tried to hide under the table. Saeki thought it rather adorable, but kept silent.

“I can see letters. S and K. Do these have any relevance to you?”, Sengoku asked.

“Oh, well, they kind of are my initials.”, Saeki said. “Saeki Kojirou.”

“Your first name starts with a K?”

Sengoku suddenly let go of Saeki’s hands and retreated. He might have seen something, but what if that something was just Saeki himself. “Let me try again.”

Saeki stretched his wrists a bit and offered them back to Sengoku. As his fingers got clasped by Sengoku’s palms, he noticed that they were a bit more sweaty.

“Hm, I can see...something brown. It must be a physical aspect.”

Saeki looked at Sengoku. He felt like he was really into it.

“Brown hair! I can see someone with brown hair in the future.”, Sengoku claimed.

“Any definite shades of them?”, Saeki asked. “Like, coconut, or chocolate?”

“It’s hard to make out... It does seem to be on the darker side.”, Sengoku answered. “I’m receiving more information.”

Sengoku’s hands tightened. The customer didn’t know whether it was on purpose, but it made the energy channelling seem more realistic. Two shadows popped up in the vision Sengoku found himself in. It was too dark to make out, but he could clearly see the starry sky.

“I see a starry sky.”

Saeki felt a little bit intrigued. Gazing at the stars was an embarrassing hobby of his, but he found great joy in the vast wide sky. He wanted to ask for more information, but a faked jolt and the sound of a cheap bell signed that the time was up.

“Time’s up, get out.”, Akutsu said as he ripped the curtain apart. He might have enjoyed disturbing the session if it were Sengoku alone with a cute girl, but at the time he really didn’t care about the two pretty boys having some quality time.

“Akutsu, wait, we were right at the good part!”, Sengoku yelled. He was close to making out the constellation of Saeki’s future lover, but the interruption threw him of the chart. Great, now Saeki was going to leave, and Sengoku would have to wait ages before he’d find another customer that didn’t mind his 10 minutes grunting and sweaty hands. Or called him out at his blatant peeking.

“Are there customers waiting?”, Saeki asked. Akutsu looked at the empty front, and shook his head. Saeki reached in his pocket and took out a 100 yen coin and tossed it at Akutsu, who easily caught it. “Sengoku, I hope you don’t mind me staying for a little longer? I really want to know about the star thing.”

Did he just say that? There’s no way that he could actually be interested in his business, could he? He expected for Saeki to call it a day, wish him good luck and go back to attending the beach hut. Sengoku’s mind went a bit haywire. “Bu-but I can’t guarantee that I can recou- I mean recall that visio-prediction thing exactly like I did before, really.”, Sengoku stuttered. He was stumbling a bit over his words, something very uncharacteristic of him.

“That’s fine. We can try out the other readings if that would be easier? Or does spiritual energy disappear when it has been used once already?”, Saeki said.

“Oh, n-no, I mean, we all carry different spiritual energies, I just now only used your sky-magi- I mean soul spirit-thing energy and things like palm reading and tea leaves only require a little fraction of that.”, Sengoku rambled. It was like Saeki had pressed the button on a never ending recorder.

“Ah, I see. I read somewhere that our energy was divided in those five categories, but I never knew that they could be used separately. I didn’t really read that much on it either, but don’t they fuse into a single thing we call the soul?”, Saeki continued.

“Yeah, they do, but sometimes they can be separated with the right amount of pressure, and this pressure is amplified if other persons, for example a medium like me, can do this and that...”

That school festival became a precious memory to Sengoku for the following days. He had held a deep conversation with Saeki, for how deep one-sidedly explaining fortune-telling could be. He got so enthusiastic that he even forgot to hide his guidebook. They did the tea leaves, the palm reading and even the chicken (despite Muromachi’s protests). In a way, it was Sengoku’s first time, doing the rituals on anyone else except his sister. And if Sengoku was right with his judgement, something he had faith in, Saeki enjoyed it as well.

Sengoku laid on his bed, hair still wet from the washing. The orange colour was starting to fade, to reveal a chocolate shade in his roots. The more important thing that was on Sengoku’s mind was the e-mail address he had gotten from Saeki. The conversation they had for some hours got cut short when Bane dragged Saeki back to the beach hut. On request, they exchanged e-mails and promised each other that they would keep each other updated on astrology news and the like. Or just talk about tennis.

Currently he was contemplating whether or not to send the latest information article on healing crystals to him. It hadn’t even been 2 days yet, and he didn’t want to come over as too pushy. It also felt a bit naggy, since Saeki hadn’t sent anything either. Maybe he forgot about it.

He wriggled around and landed on his side. Right at that moment, his phone vibrated, and Sengoku dropped it. He cursed and pushed his hand between the crack of his bed and the wall. It took a bit too long, so the phone light went out and he was now grasping around in the dark. His pinky touched the body, and he pulled it out. The screen lit up again and he saw two unread messages from Saeki. They were nothing more than friendly greetings, but they soon evolved in small conversations. Both Saeki and Sengoku were a bit surprised with how easy it was to get along with the other.

Saeki had a lenient and observant personality, as did Sengoku, he would learn. They both had older sisters, and would sometimes complain about them. A shallow, but somewhat enjoyable friendship formed in the following months.


	2. Eyebrows

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I don't appreciate you flirting with my sister, freak!"

When one day, Sengoku came home to find Saeki being chummy with his family, he was a bit surprised.

Sengoku was skipping home that day. A girl had given him his number, he won a practice match against Akutsu and today the new magazine he subscribed to had a special edition with special goodies. When he arrived at the front porch he saw a most extraordinary thing. A man of tall stature was chatting happily with his sister, who was clearly enjoying the attention of the stranger.

He tried to sneak up, but the man noticed him and waved. He recognized his mail friend, Saeki.

“Saeki!? Are you hitting on my sister!”, he yelled, as he fumbled with the lock of the gate.

“Oh look, there he is, want to come inside?”, Sengoku’s sister asked. She opened the door and let Saeki in, not bothering to hold the door as Sengoku finally managed to open the gate. Saeki waited at the door, beckoning for Sengoku to come in. He had taken his shoes off already.

“Saeki, what the hell are you doing in Tokyo?”,  Sengoku asked as he stumbled over his own shoes.  “Moreover, what are you doing at my house.”

“Oh, my sister went on a city trip with her friends, and I tagged along. Since I’m here, I could just as well stroll the neighbourhood but your sister saw me and we struck up a chat.”, Saeki explained.

“Yeah, but how did you even find out where I live?”, Sengoku asked.

“Oh, I stopped by at Yamabuki and coincidentally I found out about it when Dan told  me. He’s a really cute junior isn’t he.”, Saeki said.

“He is. But that doesn’t mean you can show up to my house uninvited.”, Sengoku retorted.

“But your sister invited me in.”, Saeki said.

He was right, but Sengoku didn't like it.

“Kiyosumi, don’t be ashamed! You rarely ever invite friends over except that little kid that invites himself.”, Sengoku’s sister yelled from the kitchen. She peeked at the corridor and joked: “Not even a girl~”

“Huh, I-.”, Sengoku said. Deep inside he was struggling with either defending his honor or admitting that he invited the entire team to his home one day when no one was home. They accidentally broke the ceiling, so Sengoku hung one of his spiritual lamps in the middle of the room. He opted for the former and stayed silent.

“I feel honored to be Sengoku’s second friend.” Saeki said with a smile. It felt genuine, even though the message itself was quite insulting.

“Since you’re here, want to drink something?”, the woman asked.

“Juice is fine.”

“Orange juice?”

“That’s fine.”

Sengoku didn’t know what to feel with this development. Saeki was acting overly familiar with his sister, using an informal tone. Heck, he didn’t even know if Saeki came to meet his sister or himself. As they sat at the kotatsu, Sengoku scooted slowly over until his face was right in front of his friend. Saeki kept staring at him. It bothered him.

He leaned his head towards Saeki’s ear and whispered: “My sister is off limits.”

Saeki smiled. “Sengoku, I never thought one bit of laying the moves on your sister.”, he said audibly. While his sister was still fetching the drinks, Sengoku was squinting, trying to understand the man’s thought process in front of him. Was he insulting his sister, by saying that he was not interested at all in him? Was he being friendly and polite? It was probably the latter, but it still felt “off”.

“Is there something on my face?”, Saeki asked suddenly. Sengoku realized he had been staring at his admittedly handsome face for a tad too long. Usually the victims of his stare were cute girls, who weren’t staring back, fortunately, so he found the habit quite hard to shake once he was enveloped in it. But what was this guy’s problem? He was staring at him as well wasn’t he?

“Is there something on MY face?”, Sengoku retorted. Hah, now he got him. How was he going to escape this line of questioning.

“Weirdly plucked eyebrows.”, Saeki answered. Hit.

Before Sengoku could say anything, his sister walked in with two glasses of juice in her hands. “Please make yourself at home, Saeki.”, she said, before she walked of towards the garden to lounge there for a while. She looked really friendly and outgoing, unlike his sister, who was probably beating up some people with her gal’ friends. He thanked her and resumed his staring contest with Sengoku.

“Do you need advice on how to pluck your eyebrows?”, Saeki offered.

“Wai-what? Why would I take advice from a - wait no - what’s so wrong about my eyebrows?”, Sengoku stuttered. He took care of them every morning, making sure that they had the perfect arch, which required a lot of precision. In fact, he was proud of them.

“They’re just a bit uneven, let me take a better look.“, Saeki said as he took hold of Sengoku’s neck and forced his head closer towards him. His thumb rubbed his temple, and for a while they sat in a somewhat awkward position. Sengoku felt his face grow a bit warmer than normal, a very rare occurrence and  his friend didn’t seem to notice it at all. He was too engrossed in evaluating his eyebrows, apparently.

“I see…So that’s how it is…”, Saeki mumbled now and then. Sengoku tried his very best to look down at the kotatsu, but decided to be brave and meet Saeki’s gaze.

* * *

 

Saeki was a bit startled, but didn’t show a reaction. Sengoku had suddenly opened his eyes and was giving Saeki a bit of a death stare. Was this revenge for his slight teasing? He was confident that he would outlast him, but perhaps he could amuse the notion of Sengoku trying.

Sengoku’s eyes were a mix between soft green and blue, unlike his own dark blue. With his bright orange hair, Saeki could not help but search for any undyed roots, as the genetic combination of both features was rare. His gaze lowered towards his cheeks. They looked very “malleable”, and if not for social conventions Saeki would have loved to pull them. The only conclusion he came to was that Sengoku’s face looked pretty stretchy. Even the eyelids half drooped, which gave for an angry stare. He chuckled  softly, making Sengoku immediately retreat from his submissive position.

“What’s so funny?”, Sengoku asked. His flushed face was very adorable.

“Nothing in particular. I think you’re over plucking them a bit.”, Saeki answered. There were gaps in the eyebrows, and they were overgrown towards the outside. It looked ridiculous, but the bangs of his hair covered them. He looked on as Sengoku turned around to look at the small mirror behind him. His face contorted a bit.  “I don’t see anything wrong, are you sure?”

“It’s nothing big, really.”, Saeki affirmed.

“Wait, are you sure? Do you think it detaches from my good looks?”, Sengoku asked frantically. He was pulling his eyebrows, and Saeki slowly crept up until he was next to Sengoku, both staring at themselves in the mirror.

“Look don’t you think that the arch on the outside is a bit too heavy?”, Saeki asked, pointing at Sengoku’s right side while he was lifting his bangs. They were touching shoulders, but neither of them flinched away from the physical contact.

“Look, isn’t this the right length?”, Saeki said as he lifted his bang. “It shouldn’t go completely round to the hair, but have a little split right here”, he pointed out, while looking at his reflection.

“Do eyebrows grow back?”, Sengoku asked.

“Maybe.”, Saeki said, observing how fine his were. They looked effortless and natural, a look he had strived for. Or his sister pressured him to get . Peer pressure was difficult to describe when it came from your own kin.

He snapped out of his self-admiring when he felt a tug on his collar. A desperate face neared him. “Don’t you have eye-penci-”

Thunk.

Saeki struggled to get his eyes open, as the weight of Sengoku’s body flopped on him. His forehead hurt, and he groaned in pain.

“There’s no need to be that aggressive.”, he said, as Sengoku was struggling to get back up himself. Their legs were strewn across each other, and Sengoku’s head was resting in the crook of the other’s neck. 

“Huh, you smell pretty nice.”, Sengoku remarked. Saeki twisted his head a little and said: “Oh, thanks I guess.” He wasn’t really sure what to make of it, because he did not use any deo or perfume.

“No, you smell really good? What’s this odor?”, Sengoku asked, unaware of the position they were in. Saeki had a hard time trying to understand Sengoku at that moment. For the first time in a while, Saeki felt a bit embarrassed. He wouldn’t have mind Sengoku asking him, but he was a bit too close for comfort. “I’d appreciate if you’d get up.”

Right when he tried to push himself up, a noise alerted both of them that they weren’t alone in the house. They heard the sliding doors open and Saeki saw out of the corner his eye a womanly figure enter the room.

“Forgot some- ah”, she stumbled. “I’ll come back later.”

The door slammed shut. In mere milliseconds the boys separated as if an invisible force was pulling on them from both sides. Sengoku felt the need to clarify the situation to his sister, so he dashed away with all his teenage power. What a strange situation. Saeki didn’t really mind. He palmed the small seashell in his pocket and decided to slowly dissipate out of the visit. He might have overstayed his welcome a bit.

* * *

 

Sengoku was outside. “Sister, don’t tell this to mom!”, he pleaded.

“Why would I tell mom? Were you actually doing something?”

“Well, no- not really, it’s just a misunderstanding!”, Sengoku said. “Like, we just fell on top of each other by accident, like we headbutte-”

“He only told me that I smelled nice.”, Saeki said. He had calmly walked up to them.

A moment of silence.

Sengoku’s sister hung her head low and started giggling. Saeki hadn’t changed his expression from anything but his usual stare and Sengoku was sweating bullets. How could he say something with such a straight face, and not be embarrassed by it.

Saeki lifted his hand and put it on Sengoku’s shoulder: “Are you okay? You look a bit feverish.”

Sengoku kneeled. The damage had already been done. How much pudding would he have to buy this time in order to silence his sister. He even considered getting Muromachi or Dan over in a dress to show that he was indeed, still attracted to girls, and girls only, and Saeki was definitely not an exception, absolutely not. He was convinced himself, but how would he convince his sister.

“Kiyosumi, don’t be so self-conscious. Do you think anyone will think you’re -” a whisper “ - gay?”

“Huh?” The whisper was too quiet for Saeki to hear.

“Sis!”, Sengoku yelled. If she wasn’t a girl (yes, Sengoku was still the old fashioned gentleman) and if she weren’t his sister (that also appreciated his family), he would’ve thrown a pillow at her face.

“Just joking, don’t worry Sengoku, I know what you do with all those secret magazines under your b-”, Sengoku’s sister chuckled, before she was interrupted by a pillow.

Saeki felt that his older sister had the same kind of openness towards vulgarity. What an interesting dynamic.

Sengoku knew that Saeki probably wasn’t the kind of guy to go around and divulge the secrets that his sister shared openly. But she had crossed the line. No pudding for her but the sweet taste of vengeance.

“They’re all astrology magazines, I swear.”, Sengoku explained to Saeki. A hand whacked him on the head: “Sure they are, Kiyosumi. Is virgin your favorite? I understand that you guys still have your hormones, just try to hold your puberal activities hidden.”

“How blunt.”, Saeki said. “I think it’s around time for me to go search for my sister.  Can any of you give me the directions to the station? I’m afraid I’m not that familiar with the area.”, Saeki asked. He was a sharp and observant man, but he couldn’t concentrate lately. He blamed it on the summer vacation laziness, that was slowly taking hold of him. That is how he conveniently forgot the way he strolled around, until he caught sight of a familiar school name.

“Oh my, I could give them but it I’m afraid that you’ll have to take a detour, because there are constructions going on at the main street. Kiyosumi, would you mind helping him?”, Sengoku’s sister answered. A distraught Sengoku was considering the request. He was in an irritated mood because of his sister, but he also felt that he couldn’t blame Saeki, despite him being the catalyst of the awkward situation. Maybe a little blaming. But strangely, he didn’t feel any anger towards him. It was as if Saeki’s natural personality was a bit soothing, much like his own, but...more composed and cool? Nevertheless, he grunted and made way to the front door. “Sure, sure. Let’s go.”

“Miss, thanks for your hospitality. The orange juice was really nice.”, Saeki said, as he slowly bowed and turned to join Sengoku.

“It’s just store bought juice, nothing special.”, she answered quizzically. What a strange, but polite boy. Give a few years and he might have been on her prospect list.

“True, but it being poured by you makes it all the more delicious.”, Saeki smiled. Her heart skipped a beat. What a natural charm. Her little brother could learn something. Most of the time, when he practiced his cheesy pick up lines in his room, they sounded very desperate and forced. She considered giving herself up as a practice partner so she could stop imagining the lewd scenarios Sengoku was spinning with the tone of his voice when his practice was a bit louder than usual, but thought it was better to let the boy be a boy. When he’d get a girlfriend, she’d pay him back for all the sleepless nights with the recordings.

Sengoku had already put on his shoes and was now impatiently waiting for Saeki to stop flirting with his sister. When he knelt to tie his shoelaces, Sengoku gave him a solid death stare, but his attention fell on something else.

“Huh? Saeki, I think something fell out of your pocket.”

A small white paper-covered thing laid behind Saeki. It looked a bit crushed, probably from the fall.

“Really? Where- ah!”, Saeki yelled out, as he turned his body around to find the gift he had.

“It looks a bit, uh, broken.”, Sengoku said, as Saeki picked up the remains. A red shard with intricate patterns lodged itself between the floorboard, as Sengoku’s mom would  later find when she was vacuuming the hall.

“Anything important?”, Sengoku asked, trying to peek between Saeki’s fingers, which were deftly trying to assess the damage. It was completely demolished.

“Hm, nothing special. Let’s go, shall we.”

“If you say so.”

* * *

 

The seashell had decalcified and had broken due to the impact of the fall and the indirect heat of the sun. It was such a beautiful shell as well, and when he found it during the clam hunting in Chiba, Saeki was intrigued by the oily looking patterns. There were small, glowing spots, probably caused by some sea fireflies that attached themselves to ride along with the sea current. The deep red made for an excellent shine.

“Sae-san!  What do you have there!”, a high pitched voice called out to him.

Saeki was attending an extracurricular school trip, where they went clam hunting with the students of Rokkaku elementary. His class volunteered, so he didn’t have Itsuki to help him gather the best ones. He still had a lot of friends in his class, it was just that none of them possessed the nearly magical sensor that Itsuki seemed to have. Him being part of the tennis club, which was conveniently close by the sea, made him the perfect mentor and leader of the tour.

“Nothing special. I was just thinking that this place might be good for the kids to dig, the shells lie in shallow water.”, Saeki replied. He attempted to hide the shell in his palm, but the girl was quicker than he thought.

“What are you hiding~”, she asked in a melodious notch. Saeki figured that lying would only make her more curious, so he hesitantly opened his hand, careful as to angle it in a way so she wouldn’t be able to snatch it.

“Oh, it’s just a shell. It would’ve been more interesting if you found some cool treasures.”, the girl said, feigning disinterest.

“I think it’s rather pretty. Look, this probably the shell of a baby hermit crab, they’re pretty rare.”, Saeki explained. His classmate observed it a bit more, before telling him off: “Huh, I guess it’s pretty, but it’s not like you can do anything with it. It’s useless.”

“But it being pretty means it has some value right. Look, if you turn it like this, the light reflects and it gets a purplish colour, like-“

“Are you stuuupid? No matter how pretty it is, you can’t use it. The shell will die if you don’t care for it and it doesn’t have anything edible or any significant weight for it to count in the long run. Momentous beauty like that is insignificant~”

That was the “ I studied a university course of Philosophy ” girl after all. Saeki tended to avoid her, mainly because she would drag him to listen to her debates (never talk, forbid Saeki said something useless) and rob him of tennis time. It felt kind of bad to refuse, as she did tutor him in math at times on her own volition.

“Perhaps it is.”

Saeki admired the shell, maybe a tad too long, because from the corner of his eye, he saw a flying hand trying to grasp it.

“Look, if you won’t throw it away, give it to me.”, she said brazenly, unashamedly thrusting her open hand at his face. “That way, you can give it the meaning of it being a gift to me, and I will be content knowing that while its beauty is fleeting, it will have held some significance.”

Saeki’s head throbbed at her reasoning. He almost handed it over, but the stubbornness inside him lingered.

“I was just going to throw it away, there’s no need to get philosophical about the shells. Shall we go and tally our buckets?”, he said, trying to change the subject.

“Just give the shell to me, I will throw it away for you.”

Trying failed. She was stubborn as well.

“Is it really necessary?”, Saeki asked, dropping a little mix of disappointment and anger in his voice. The girl noticed and jerked back at the passive-aggressive action.  Why of all people, did this one have to be so good looking and nice to her. It made every single opposing comment by him hurt her all the more.

“Fine. Keep your shell. It fits you.”, she said as she stomped away, sandals splatting some sand around.  Good grief. Saeki would have a hell of a time to make up for that. She was a pretty mysterious creature.  Worst case scenario, he would need another math tutor, but he didn’t feel like destroying the strange friendship he had with her.

The shell was put in an extra soft compartment in his bag. He would varnish it at home with some nail polish and add put it on a shelf or something. It was really pretty after all.

At home, a small desk light illuminated the soft shell and some brushes. Saeki carefully swept away the crumbs, before coating it in a glowing layer. His concentration was broken when he saw a message from Sengoku lighten up his screen. For a split second, the shell tinted bright orange, a hue that embedded itself in Saeki’s mind. Unconsciously, he started thinking about the perfect amount of packaging paper.

* * *

 

Outside, the sun was still high and hot. Summer meant long days, which translated to less sleep, more grumpiness and the endless chirping of the birds being one of the causes.

“Does your sister really think like that about summer?”, Sengoku asked.

“She’s not the most sunny individual in our house I guess.”

The two just walked right past Yamabuki Highschool, a different building that was across the street from the middle school.

“Do you think you’ll enroll in that school next year?”, Saeki asked.

“Think? I’m pretty sure that’s where I’m supposed to go according to my parents.”, Sengoku replied.  “They want me to do stuff with math, become an accountant or something like that. Sounds pretty to boring to me.”

“Accountants are very much needed, and it’s a high paying job as well.”

“Are you trying to defend their decision?”, Sengoku asked.

“Oh, no, not at all, but from what I’ve heard, office jobs like that are mostly populated by women.  I guess you might get bothered by them a lot...I see, maybe it’s not the best job for you after all.”

Sengoku was going to become an accountant. All doubts were wiped from his heart.   
They remained silent for the rest of the walk.

“Saeki! Hide!”, Sengoku suddenly yelled out, breaking the pleasant silence they had.

Sengoku duck behind a street corner and tugged on Saeki’s sleeve, pulling him back.

“Hu-huh?”, Saeki stammered out.

“Do you see those girls? Wait a second I’m going to get their number.”

A group of five, mature looking girls were sitting on the stairs of the station. They wore high heels, and skirts which showcased their legs. In the vision of an old man, they would be called indecent youths who don't know chastity, but like hell it was going to stop Sengoku.

“Wait, why do I have to hide?”, Saeki asked. “More importantly, aren’t we headed to the station?”

“Yeah I know I know, but that chick over there is really pretty, and I can’t have her get distracted by your handsomeness.”, Sengoku spurted out.

“You think I’m handsome? I’m flattered.”, Saeki said, as he stared at Sengoku. There it was, his 1000 yard stare. Sengoku felt deeply bothered by it, but wrote it off as Saeki’s natural face. Either way, he wouldn’t let it keep him from getting a chance with a lovely lady.

“Sengoku, maybe it’s better if you d-“

Saeki was too late. Sengoku had already made his way over to the group of girls.

“Hey girl, did it hurt when you fell o-“

“Kojirou,  what the heck is your ugly boyfriend doing.”

Sengoku’s face was swiftly pushed aside by one of the girls, and turned around in an unattractive way to face Saeki, who had come out of hiding.

“Sis, I don’t think he’s ugly. Sengoku, I’d like you to meet my sister and some of her friends whose name I don’t know but make for a nice ensemble.”

“Why didn’t you tell me that I was hitting on your sister before!”, Sengoku yelled, caressing his swollen cheek.

“I forgot.”

A strange tension filled the air. The girls were chattering among themselves, and one of them dared to speak out.

“Girl, your brother is hot.”

“Don’t hit on my brother, he’s still in middle school.”, she said, making a grossed out face. "Besides, he may look handsome and all, but he's really useless in the long term."

“I will start high school next year though.”, Saeki corrected. "Also, thanks sis for calling me handsome."

“Me too! I mean I will also go to highschool next year, like, here, at Yamabuki highschool!”, Sengoku yelled out.

“You guys are gross. C’mon let’s go already.”, Saeki’s sister replied. She did not have the patience to deal with her brother and his lecher boyfriend, her friends who would probably start fussing about her 2 years younger brother and the unwarranted calls she'd get.

The clattering of numerous heels followed, and the boys parted ways after a friendly goodbye. As Sengoku returned, he recalled one particular detail.

“Wait, I’m not his boyfriend.”


	3. Double date?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I would not date you if I were a girl."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one got a bit too long...

Saeki woke up to an unusual call that day. The summer vacation’s end neared, and he stayed up late in the evening to do preparation and revision work for the technical school he was applying to next year. His math was still horrible, but with the tutoring of his dad and Kurobane’s help, he managed to plow throughout most of it.

Saeki was pissed. Who dared to call him that early in the morning (around 8 am). He rolled around, trying to block out the sound, but he felt like the call would be pretty important, as most people knew he wasn’t a morning person.

“With Saeki Kojirou...”, he said, not bothering to hide his grogginess.

“Saeki! It’s me, Sengoku! This is very important please listen to me, even if you sound really dead now!”

Saeki grunted. He could entertain the notion if it was important enough, but he was not in the mood to talk about his love crystals.

“You’re silent, so I take that as a yes! Look, I managed to get us a double date for the summer festival!”

A double date? That sounded like something interesting but-

“Wait, what? A summer festival, date, what are you talking about. If you’re talking about a date “date”, I’d have to refuse, I’m not hooking up with a friend of my sister.”

“Things didn’t go well with that one, but this one is a real cutie I swear! She’s in the same year as me, and her friend is really cute as well! Please do this for me!”

Saeki recalled his sister talking on the phone with one of her friends who had love problems. He hoped sincerely for Sengoku’s life that it had nothing to do with him.

“Do what?”, Saeki asked. He was still drowsy and not sure about the situation.

“Attend the summer festival with them! And me of course.  It took me a lot of effort, please accept my offer.”

Saeki tried to put his thoughts in order. Sengoku managed a date with a friend, but somehow managed to pull him and a friend of her with it.

“Couldn’t you solo her and her friend? I thought you were adept at handling large numbers.”

“Don’t be so mean! Her friend is a bit shy and she felt bad if we left her alone, so I promised to bring her a super handsome single guy as a date. And you’re the lucky guy! I mean, you’re still single right?”

Saeki admitted that spending the last day at a summer festival with a cute girl didn’t sound terrible. Especially if she was really cute, but if word got out, he’d have hell with his classmates.

“Also, her name is Satsuki Kimiko! And she has brown hair! It’s fate man!”

Saeki turned the volume down a few notches. “That is really a huge coincidence. But the thing is,  I still have revision for math, and the festival is usually until late in the evening, isn’t it? I was not planning on going to Chiba’s festival either, so I don’t have an appropriate dress either.”

Saeki heard some stumbling on the other end of the phone. For a second, he thought that Sengoku had realized that he had no time to really travel to Tokyo and back. He’d be surprised if any trains rode around midnight, and the commute from the station to his home was not to be underestimated.

“Saeki, what are your measurements? Oh wait no scrap that, I don’t think they’d mind if we wore cool fashionable clothes like usually. How many math problems do you have, if you take a picture of them I will be able to solve them and fax them to yo-“

“Sengoku, my father supervises me when I revision , I don’t think you can fax them here.”

“Okay, okay, what if you told your father you were going to a friend for math tutoring, free of charge of cour- wait no, it has to look legit so, what about like 1000 yen an hour? Does that sound believable?”

Saeki sighed. “I don’t think he will buy that story. I suddenly disappear the evening of the big festivals with my casual clothes and don’t return until late at night? Frankly, I don’t even think the trains will ride that night.”

“You can stay over here! I mean, I have a spare futon, and my parents and sis won’t be back until the day after the festival. You can sleep, and as soon as the morning sun hits the horizon, I’ll kick you out and it would seem like nothing happened.”

“That doesn’t really solve my math problem. Besides, wouldn’t you rather bring your date over to your house instead of me?”, Saeki asked. Sengoku probably didn’t realize he was cockblocking himself right there.

“Unfortunately, her parents know about me and gave her a strict regulation that as soon as the event would be over, she’d return home. No sleepover with a girl.”

Sengoku sounded disproportionally sad.

“But for the math problem, I can talk to your parents for that! If you take an all nighter, we can totally mimic the sun with my magical lamp and we can take footage, or wait no, I can just make them while you sleep. It’s perfect!”

“Sengoku, that’s too fraudulent. I can’t betray my parents trust like tha-“

Saeki was cut off when his sister snatched the phone out of his hands.

“Stop making a ruckus so early in the morning!”

She ripped the battery out and threw the phone back at Saeki before going back to her room.

* * *

 

Breakfast was unusually strange. His sister was eating cereal peacefully, his mother was cleaned  up and his dad was reading the newspaper. All of them were silent however, and there was a lack of the usual bickering.

Saeki’s sister sipped from her cup of coffee and suddenly spoke up: “Saeki has a date in Tokyo tomorrow and wants to skip his math lessons.”

Saeki splurted out his drink, almost choking on it.

His mom was the first to respond: ”Saeki, you should have said something! Can you tell me more about her?”

“No  mum, it’s a blind date thing. He has never seen her before, who knows, she might be a junkie or something.”, his sister replied in his stead.

“Oh dear, not every girl is like your friend circle. Saeki, at least you know her name, don’t you,?”

“Y-yeah, she’s called Satsuki Kimiko, but I wasn’t really planning on ditching my math lessons for that. A friend set me up to it, and I refused.”

“Sure you weren’t. That’s why you talked about girls and “sleepovers” huh? Is that how you call it nowhadays?”

“It was not in that context sis. Because the commute back would take a long time, my friend offered me to stay over at his place. It will be a double date, and he organizes it.”, Saeki replied politely.

During the conversation, only Saeki’s dad didn’t seem to react. He was still reading the paper, sometimes putting it down to get a bite out of his sandwich. His family was raised with Japanese values, but during his foreign study, he adapted the western style of living, and even after he got married and got two children, he found the habit of having rice for breakfast strange. His daughter inherited that trait, or at least started copying it.

“Dear, what do you think about it? Should we let him go for once?”

Saeki's mother was a sweet lady, but in her case, she was trusting the future of the Saeki household to Kojirou. Her daughter wasn't that bad, but her habits gave her the idea that she wouldn't need to expect grandchildren of her. 

“If my son thinks that fiddling around with girls is more important than his education, let him.”

He took a last bite of his sandwich and put on his jacket. The time between the clattering of the dishes in the sink and the front door closing were filled with silence. His sister silently stood up and returned to her room, leaving her plates on the table, together with a distraught woman and her little brother. She had a worried expression on her face, and looked sadly at Saeki. Saeki returned the gaze as normal.

“It’s okay mother, I know he only wants the best for me.”, Saeki smiled. “I wasn’t planning on going anyways.”

“Kojirou, perhaps it’s better if you take up on that date and have a day off. You can stay over there, can’t you?”, Saeki’s mother asked. “You already did so much, I also want you to live your youth as much as you can.”

“Thanks, but I don’t want to get in trouble or slack in any way. It’s okay.”, Saeki said. He never really felt pressured, at least he convinced himself, but he knew that his mother was a huge worrywarth. The child of her sister moved away at age 16, because of bad familial relations, so she tried to prevent the same happening to Saeki.

He stood up, and went to put his dishes away, but was halted when his mother stood in front of him, her apron’s bindings untied.

“Kojirou. Hug.”

She stepped forward with open arms.

“Wait, I’m carrying these plate-“

The soft arms with which she enveloped her son gave him ample time to place the dishes securely on the table. She was a good head shorter than him, but her bear hugs were impressive.

“You don’t have to be perfect. Not for me, and not for your father. Not for anyone. Just go have fun, I’ll be sure to buy cake and talk with your father about it.”

Rather than permission, it sounded like a request.

“If you insist. Thanks mom, it’s alright, really.”

Saeki released himself from the tight hug and went to his sister room, to pry his battery back.

* * *

 

Sengoku was practically yodelling when he found out about Saeki’s crashed phone, and that he agreed to go on a double date with him. He rolled around a few times, and jumped throughout the house, something he wouldn’t admit to doing if he was asked. He was glad that his number one choice second man accepted, he didn’t want to think about asking Muromachi or Minami at all. And in a few hours, it would become the next day, the day of the summer festival yes, and he would call the girls to see if they were still going, and Saeki would arrive and he’d lead one of the girls away and then he and his friend could be alone and-

Sengoku’s head exploded at the amount of scenarios that came up. Maybe he could convince her friend to join him as well, but that would leave Saeki unnecessary. Wait, maybe he should have been smoother and try to solo them both, then there would have been no chance of Saeki actually attracting his date. His mind went through athletic loops, trying to figure out a situation where he would have the max gain.

It was still trying to jump hurdles when Saeki arrived at his home the next day. The first thing Sengoku inspected were his clothes. He trusted Saeki to look dandy and fine and it seemed his natural charm was apparent as ever, despite not really understanding what his motives were for this date.

“Yo, Sengoku. Were casual clothes fine? I didn’t manage to find a yukata after all. But I do have my pajamas and toiletry with me.”

“Saeki, come in, quickly.”, Sengoku said, as he swiftly closed the door behind Saeki.

“Look okay, the plan has changed. You aren’t interested in girls are you?”, Sengoku asked.

Saeki blinked.

“Well, I don’t think I’ve yet had feelings for men, but if you thought that way abou-“

“That’s not what I meant!”, Sengoku yelped. Saeki stared at him. Sengoku didn’t know whether Saeki was just really dense and oblivious, or if he exactly knew what he was doing. “A-anyway, look, there will be the fireworks viewing on the hill nearby, and it will be probably very populated.”

“Fireworks are really pretty after all.”

“Yes, but that’s beyond my point. Look, if it starts, I’d like you to take distract Sacchan enough, until the end of the festival. Try to make her feel like she’s having fun, okay?”

“Ah, so you want some alone time with her friend?”, Saeki suggested. “I won’t interfere. Do you also want me to put in a few good words for you?”

How could a man this nice and perfect be his friend. Sengoku contained his touched feelings and put on his shoes. As both of them left the house, Sengoku thanked Saeki one last time:”You’re such a lifesaver.”

“Am I not?”

 

* * *

 

The bus ride to the outskirts of the city was a bit strange. Saeki and Sengoku sat together, surrounded by a large group of children that were all wearing traditionally done yukatas. They stood out amongst their little crowd. Even after they arrived at their stop, they found themselves in a large number of attendees that were really dressed up for the occasion.

“This is a bit awkward, isn’t it Sengoku?”

“It’s only awkward if you make it awkward.”, Sengoku replied, trying his best to not let his embarrassment show. Saeki had it way easier.

“Hm, where are we supposed to meet our date?”, Saeki asked, looking at the large venue. A long street stretched out in front of him, branches leading to the side where various shops laid. Candles illuminated the dusk and forged an attractive path for couples to follow.

“They told me they’d be here by sunset.”, Sengoku replied. “I can always call them, but let’s just hang out a bit in front of the entrance while we wait.”

Saeki was a bit surprised by the degree of calmness Sengoku had. He knew that he could be serious at times, but honestly, as soon as someone with two X chromosomes entered his view, he’d turn into his teen self again. He wondered how Sengoku still didn’t have a committed girlfriend, it was perplexing.

“Sengoku! Hello!”

Two girls of short stature walked up to him. “Is this Saeki?”, one of them asked.

“Ah, hi, Hicchan! Yeah, this is my friend Saeki, Saeki, this is Hiyoko and this is Satsuki.”, Sengoku said, introducing them to each other. They were wearing cute, albeit cheap yukatas and had their hair done in a complex way.

“Oh my god Satsuki, he’s really good looking! Nice to meet you Saeki!”, Hiyoko said. She was tugging on the sleeve of the smaller girl who had took on a defensive conversation pose.

“It’s also nice to meet two lovely ladies like yourselves.”, Saeki said, as he smiled towards both of them. Satsuki had a harder time coming out of her shell.

“N-nice to meet...you...”, she said, bowing softly.

“Okay, now that we have introduced ourselves, shall we go?”, Sengoku suggested. The sooner he could link hands with Hiyoko, the less the chance that she would accidentally crush on Saeki, though Sengoku was afraid the damage had been done already.

“Kimiko, I’m really envious of you~”, she whispered. Sengoku threw a glare at Saeki and he only chuckled.

“Hiyoko, wanna hold hands? I don’t want to lose you in this crowd, though I don’t think I’ll be able to take my eyes of you anyway.”, Sengoku intervened.

“What a charmer, hihi!”, Hiyoko giggled as she took upon Sengoku’s offer and slid her hands into his. They both walked ahead, with Sengoku taking the lead. Saeki was left with Satsuki, who didn’t really seem to budge and enviously looked at the two in front of them.

“Do you want to hold hands as well?”, Saeki asked, extending his in front of her. “Don’t worry, I won’t bite or anything.”, he tried to reassure her with a soft smile.

“I...don’t like you.”, she said, brushing off his request.

Saeki was taken aback. He had been rejected before, but this was a bit harsh, wasn’t it? Nevertheless, he kept his end of the bargain and just walked alongside her in the venue. Sengoku and Hiyoko were already at one of the stalls, looking at goldfish. She was contemplating whether or not to try and catch one.

“Oh, that looks like fun. Satsuki, would you like to try that out?”, Saeki asked her.

“No.”

“I guess, you could get wet from the splashing, and if you don’t have an aquarium of a sufficient size, you goldfish will quickly die from ammonium poisoning. Let’s search for something else.”, Saeki said, maintaining his cheery facade. Even if his date was not willing, he still promised Sengoku to distract her, and he had a little hope that he could cheer her up along the way. Maybe make her smile.

As they walked past a mask shop, he saw the perfect opportunity. 

“Mister, can I have those two masks over there?”, he asked, having promptly left Satsuki. It would probably not take more than a minute, and he felt that she wouldn’t even notice his absence.

Having the two masks in his possession, he put one of them on and stalked his way back to Satsuki, who sat on a bench, looking at Sengoku and Hiyoko, who were trying out their luck at the lottery.

“Boo!”, Saeki yelled as he suddenly jumped in her view. Even if she would hate him for being startled that way, it would’ve been better than having a silent anger directed at him. However, she didn’t react.

“I got us some masks, I hope you didn’t feel too lonely.”, Saeki said, handing her a stylized bunny mask. He got himself some kind of demon mask, he thought it to be cute.

Surprisingly, she accepted it.

“How old are you...This is childlish...”, she said, tracing the cheap carvings with her thumb.

They remained silent for the rest of the walk through the main street. Sometimes, he would glance over at her face, which was partially covered by her bangs, but he felt he couldn’t linger on it too much, as it reminded him of the negative experiences they had so far. She held the mask loosely in one hand, as if she would throw it away immediately if they passed a trashcan. So much for having a fun time, mom.

“Kimiko! Saeki! Look, we won the lottery! We got a free onsen trip for two!”,  Hiyoko yelled out, as she rejoined with the couple.

“It was all Hiyoko, I blessed her hands with good luck!” Sengoku followed.

“Ooh, Kimiko, is that a mask that you have there? Put it on, it looks really cute.”, Hiyoko suggested.

Satsuki succumbed to the peer pressure and put it on sideways, hesitantly avoiding eye contact with Saeki.

“Aw, you are so cu-u-te like, really, Kimiko.”, Hiyoko said as she cooed her friend.

“Saeki, I envy that you have such a cute date as well~”,Sengoku said.

For the first time, Satsuki actually showed a little bit of emotion on her face. She let out a tiny smile and muttered a silent thank you. Saeki picked up the trait and concluded that she probably wanted to be with Sengoku more.

“Sengoku, I have to relieve myself, mind joining me?”, Saeki suddenly asked with a smile on his face. Sengoku had no time to really react, as Hiyoko started giggling a bit. “Only if the girls don’t mind being left alone for a while.”, Saeki continued.

“I don’t mind.”, Satsuki promptly said.

“Wait, why do you want me to join you in your business!?”, Sengoku asked. “These are ladies you shouldn’t talk about such vulgarity.”, he said, taking Saeki aside.

“We’ll be in the woods for a while, please wait there!”, Saeki yelled out, dragging Sengoku between the trees.

“Don’t worry, have fun!”, Hiyoko yelled.

As soon as Saeki had forcefully reeled Sengoku in, he started explaining why they were both alone, in the cold woods, arguably peeing together.

“About Satsuki, I think she hates me.”, Saeki said.

“She’s just shy Saeki, socially awkward. Not every girl who isn’t swooning over you from moment one despises you.”, Sengoku said.

“No like really, she straight up told me she didn’t like me, take my word for it. However, I noticed that she really, really likes you.”

“Are you for real? Are you telling me I have more game than you?”, Sengoku asked. It seemed like his concerns were for nothing, heck, he might even have it better than expected. It seems there were girls that didn’t get absolutely obliterated by Saeki’s charm. “So what do you propose we do, let me solo them?”

“I was planning on doing a date swap, but what you are saying sounds a lot smarter. However, can you handle both of them well enough so they won’t get jealous of eachother?”, Saeki asked. Tackling Hiyoko was one thing, but there was the off chance that Hiyoko would not like her date getting pushed to her best friend, especially if this guy was in the same year as her and grudges could be born. There was also the fact that Saeki was not interested in dating anyone at all, he was really looking for more friends.

“I can see that you are a bit conflicted, Saeki. Don’t worry, Hicchan is a very understanding girl, and I don’t think she would mind hanging out with you for a while. Satsuki is really cute, so I don’t mind that either, but are you okay with it?”, Sengoku asked. Saeki was taken aback by his mature way of handling this.

“So you think we should just tell Hiyoko about the date swap? That will be quite a feat, especially since we don’t really know what Satsuki would think about the situation, it would sound unfair to her.”, Saeki said.

 “I was planning to hook up with a girl tonight, and I like all of them, so for me it doesn’t really matter which one specific, they’re both cute. If you’re not interested, she will totally understand and see this date as a fun opportunity, while I entertain her friend and no grudges will be held and everything will end up with me. We can just say that you like Hiyoko more than Satsuki, go around it in a roundabout way.”, Sengoku continued.

“You say it like it’s that easy but none of my natural charms will save me from Satsuki’s death stare if I were to ditch her. I know she hates me and would probably like it more if you attended her, but you can’t just go around saying to people that you’d like to switch dates, it would leave both of them wondering if anything was wrong with theirs and that’s just not a right feeling to have I think. Girls have a different construction of their brain, they will relate everything to anything, so we need to be super careful that we don’t end up hurting anyone.”, Saeki said, in one breath. He wasn’t sure about the brain part.

Sengoku thought for a bit.

“Also, how long do boys pee together?”, Saeki suddenly asked.

“Oh shit, we have been walking all this time, haven’t we?”, Sengoku said. He looked around him and only saw, yes, forest. In the distance, he could see the faint lights that surrounded the main street. 

“Let’s go back before they’ll question us.”, Sengoku suggested.

“Why would they question us? We’re just two boys, peeing together, in the woods, alone. Seems natural to me.”, Saeki said.

“Look, I don’t know what you guys have as a policy in Chiba, but whatever it is, we don’t do that stuff he-“

Shuffling and giggling sounds erupted from a tree nearby.

“Did you hear that?”, Sengoku asked? His ears were sharp and his eyes sharper, but he couldn’t see the source of the noise.

“Saeki, run!”, Sengoku said as he took hold of Saeki’s hand and sped off towards the lights.

“Why are we running?”, Saeki asked, trying to keep up with Sengoku’s irregular pacing.

“Look, your horoscope said this morning that we absolutely should not go in the woods, because the evil fairies will attack us.”

Besides the fact that Sengoku checked all the sites that had any kind of astrology on it, including those for toddlers, he also unconsciously started looking up other signs. At first it started with the sign of his current date, Hiyoko, but his attention shifted ever more towards Libra.

“Huh, you check my horoscope? That’s so nice of you.”, Saeki smiled.

“I check everyone’s horoscope, don’t feel flattered.”, Sengoku grumbled. “Focus on running, even if they aren’t fairies, they could be burglars or something.”

“Why would robbers be in the woods during a festival, it’s much more profitable to pickpocket  around the main street, don’t you think?”, Saeki said. At least, little children who got lost in the woods had nothing profitable.

“Their target are people like us, obviously.”, Sengoku said, running out of breath.

“Two men peeing together, in the dark woods, on their own?”

“Stop that!”

“Stop what?”

Sengoku blushed. “That thing that you’re always doing. When you’re being so- he made some gestures with his hand- oblivious. It’s not normal for two people to go in the woods for some pee party.”

“That does seem odd to me. It would be much more logical to assume that they target couples that want to do what you want to do with girls.”, Saeki reasoned. “Don’t you think the noises you heard could belong to such a “lucky” couple?”

Sengoku knew that Saeki could be totally right, but he didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of admittance. How could a man be so nonchalant about the notion of true love in the magical woods.  It’s not like the woods were magical at the moment, as branches scraped their clothes and scarred their faces at times. Saeki protested audibly, but Sengoku did not let go.

“As soon as we arrive at the main street, we will just continue our dates like normal okay? Try your best to keep to the plan, and if it gets worse, just join us for a bit, but not when the fireworks are occurring.”, Sengoku said. The lights were only a few meters away from them, and  they could hear the shopkeepers proclaim their goods loudly. In mere seconds they would stand face to face again with their potential girlfriends, so they took a moment to straighten out their looks.

“Do I look presentable?”, Sengoku asked.

“You have some twigs sticking out here and there, but otherwise, you don’t look any different!”, Saeki said. He was trying to ignore the miniscule cuts on his face, and the dirt, which made him look like a hardened hunter.

“Oh re-“

Sengoku tried to lift his hands to remove the twigs, but found that one of them was restricted partly by Saeki’s hand. He momentarily forgot that they were still holding hands from the whole evil fairies thing, and quickly snapped his hand free. Saeki was only staring at him, holding no emotion but whatever Saeki’s face radiated. His stare was so incredibly weird, you couldn’t make out whether he was staring at you, something on your face or your soul. It gave Sengoku the chills, but they weren’t always unpleasant.

“What are you looking at?”

“You, what else?”

What a terrible human. Sengoku almost regretted inviting him for a sleepover. He thought about avoiding him until the fireworks. Why was he suddenly getting all embarrassed because of this one boy. After making sure that his scalp was leaf-free, he promptly ignored Saeki and climbed up the incline of the main street.

“Do I have anything in my hair, Saeki yelled after Sengoku, but he was met with a simple “I don’t think the girls would care if you looked like a hobo.”

Leaving Saeki to chase after him, he looked around at the familiar area and did not spot any of the girls at the place where they promised to meet. Cue the inwards lamentation. What now? He did not anticipate them walking out on them, so he ran around, asking strangers, but he also knew that it would be pretty pointless, as the street was overcrowded. He could even hear the taiko music starting in the distance, signifying that the main event had already begun.

The goddess of luck had left him that day.

“Sengoku, where are the girls?”, Saeki asked, having caught up. The festival had started, and one of the main things Sengoku stressed was participating in the ondo with his date.

“They’re not even replying to my messages Saeki...”, Sengoku cried. Granted, they were only sent two minutes ago, but every second felt like torture now.

“Well, there are still a lot of fish in the sea. Maybe you might find your other dream girl at this event.”, Saeki encouraged.

“That’s true...but we look like complete idiots, and hobos at that! How can it be that you managed to not have even a single scratch on your face!”

“You pushed the branches out of my way, silly.”, Saeki answered.

Sengoku sat on the corner of a nearby bench and started sulking. He guessed that he had to make up with the friend of Saeki’s sister if he still wanted to get lucky that summer. He clasped his hands and still remembered the warmth  of Hiyoko’s palm in his. Until Saeki’s face popped up in his mind. That careless stare he gave him at times was really aggravating and the way he said nothing after the handholding was way too- argh- he couldn’t find any words for it. Even worse, Sengoku didn’t really dislike the contact. His hands were surprisingly warmer than his (this all despite Saeki shivering at Tokyo’s weather), and soft to the touch, unlike his own which were now covered in sweat.

“Here.”

A red glistering confection was shoved in his face. When he looked up, he saw Saeki smiling at him, with a candy apple in both his hands. “Sweets will help you get over a lovers ache.”

The older woman next to Sengoku had glanced over him a few times, and decided it wasn’t worth sitting next to a delinquent who looked like he just got in a fight, so Saeki took up that spot and squeezed himself next to Sengoku. He slowly took the candy apple and muttered a silent thanks. A small guilt befell him. Saeki was not having fun on this date, while Sengoku obviously was, but he was still going out of his way to make the miserable parties feel good.

“Saeki, you should be more on your guard.”, Sengoku said through the licking. “A bit more serious.”

“Huh? What do you mean? I am very serious now.”,Saeki asked, crunching his way through the outer layer.

“But your atmosphere thing, it doesn’t feel like it. It makes you approachable, but some might take advantage of it. Like scammers or something.”, Sengoku continued.

“Do you want me to be serious?”

The air chilled for a moment. Saeki was staring at him again, but instead of his natural oblivious face, it had darkened to a more sinister glare. It only lasted for a second, so Sengoku wasn’t really sure whether his eyes were playing a trick on him.

“U-uh, no. I think you’re okay as you are now.”, Sengoku said. He quickly looked away to hide his embarrassment. Sengoku, who prided himself on playing mental games, still had a hard time when it came to understanding his newfound friend.

The two of them sat there for a while, enjoying the atmosphere in silence, and watching the temple pass by. Sengoku hoped to see his date lingering around, but found no trace of her. And she had not replied either.

Saeki noticed everything that was going through Sengoku’s head at that moment.

“Shall we go to the hill? The fireworks will start in an hour, so it should be relatively peaceful out there and we will be able to notice if the girls came to watch them as well.”, Saeki suggested. Sengoku reluctantly took the offer. It’s not like he had anything else to do, and he might as well enjoy the starry sky.

* * *

 

Just like Saeki had predicted, the valley and the hill were relatively empty compared to the stalls. Blankets had been laid out to reserve spots, and Saeki and Sengoku decided to  get to a steep part and rest against the grassy spots. The lights of the city were bustling, but the hill itself was serene, blocking out the noises of the crowd at the festival.

“I don’t see them yet.”, Saeki said. “Would you like to sit at the top so we can see who enters?”, he suggested.

“You’re going through an awful lot of trouble for my sake.”, Sengoku said, as he plopped down on the incline and motioned for Saeki to do the same. The view was not bad at all, and Sengoku started searching for  his zodiac sign. The unclouded sky and the washing moon made  for an incredible star viewing sight. It really was a pity that most wouldn’t come until the fireworks would start.

“Oh, Sengoku, isn’t that Sagittarius right there?”, Saeki pointed out, trying to trace the constellation. “Look, it’s around the Lagoon Nebula.”

Sengoku tried to follow Saeki’s finger. “I can see Sagittarius just fine, but I don’t see the Lagoon Nebula at all. Do you have hawk eyes?”

Saeki inched a bit closer. Both of them didn’t seem to notice, focussing on the sky.

“Look, if you look a bit beneath the left front leg of Sagitarius, you can see two bright spots. The larger one is the Lagoon Nebula.”

“You mean that one?”, Sengoku said as he scooted towards Saeki to point out one of the stars.

“No, that one is still a bit too high.”, Saeki said. He grabbed Sengoku’s wrist and slowly guided it down. “ Around here.”, he said, closing one eye to align with Sengoku’s line of sight.

“That little thing?”, Sengoku asked.

“Yes. On colorized pictures, it will have a purple reddish glow, but I can’t blame you for finding it dull.”, Saeki said.

“Is it your hobby or something to recognize stars with the naked eye?”, Sengoku asked. He was intrigued by Saeki’s vision. He himself, having done boxing and having a style that pertains to motion vision was quite impressed.

“You can say it’s kind of a skill I didn’t knew I had until someone pointed it out.”, Saeki said. Sengoku grew aware of their closeness and moved a bit aside. “Then, would you be able to find Libra as well? I can’t seem to find it.”

“I would have a hard time finding it as well this season. Libra is only visible in this hemisphere from April to July.”

Saeki sighed. This was the perfect spot to have admired it in all its glory. He really liked the stars, for a reason yet unknown to him. He didn’t feel anything in particular at them, they were pretty, but not something to drool over. They were just lights, dotting the sky, never changing their place,  free, but not.

“Both of them would be visible on the southern hemisphere.”, Saeki said. “Sagittarius and Libra I mean.”

“I never really thought about it that way.”, Sengoku said, leaning back and resting head against the grass. "I didn't think the positions of the star mattered all that much, even if I have some of them memorized."

“Which one do you like more, astrology or astronomy?”, Saeki asked.

Sengoku flinched at the question, and glanced at Saeki. He was for once not staring at him, but at the stars. He admired the combination of his white-ish hair and the soft light of the moon. His facial features seemed different and softer than what he was used to, and his eyes weren’t as direct or severe as Sengoku remembered. They looked almost absent.

Suddenly Sengoku realized how defenceless Saeki truly was. He himself,  did not like opening up to anyone, despite his extrovert behaviour. He always maintained a distance, which required some forced acting at times.   
But here was Saeki, just being himself. He couldn’t get any more genuine. If Saeki had a book, containing all his deepest secrets, he’d just have laid it unguarded on the table, and Sengoku would be compelled to pull all the pages out, while his own book was under lockdown, shoved away in a cabinet that looked unsightly.

He didn’t know about the glass flask surrounding the open book.

Sengoku caught himself doing his nasty habit of staring again. He averted his eyes, and tried to find the same kind of peace Saeki had, looking at the openness of space.

“Astrology I guess. I don’t really know all the technical stuff about the stars.”, he answered, a tad too late.  Saeki still looked upwards. “I understand.”

Both remained in that position for a while, revelling in the moonlight and absorbing the peace.

* * *

 

The place had filled up, and there was no sign of any of the girls.  They were surrounded by the elder, some kids and middle aged mothers, which made for quite a fiasco. When one the rascals accidentally dropped his bottle of juice on Sengoku’s pants, they moved towards the edges, abandoning the incline for a shadowy place under the trees that lined the woods. They couldn’t see the stars anymore, but neither of them minded it, if they could get Sengoku out of his wet pants.

“I’m not looking.”, Saeki said, as Sengoku was ripping of his leather pants behind some trees. Saeki held Sengoku’s vest wide spread, so any onlookers wouldn’t get a glance of his lucky underwear. Which was hot pink.

“Your horoscope is really accurate huh? I didn’t knew it could predict what lucky item you needed for the day.”

“Shut up and see that there are no onlookers!”, Sengoku whisper-screamed. He was really glad that he had brought his tennis uniform with him, even with the green clashing so much with his normal wear.

“That’s not nice to say to someone who’s helping you. Look, I can just move this cloth and reveal yourself to the entire female population of Tokyo.”

“Don’t you dare!”, Sengoku said, as he was hop jumping into his training pants. “No, don’t look over here either!”

“What’s wrong, we’re both boys you know.”, Saeki said.

“Are the clams they feed you in Chiba poisoned or what?”, Sengoku yelled.

“Don’t insult our clams.”, Saeki said, audibly moving the vest away.

Sengoku screeched.

The chase took ten minutes and lead them back in the woods. While Saeki wasn’t really sure about the situation, he knew one thing. Sengoku was going to kill him. Even with him being smaller, he had considerable determination and speed, and Saeki feared that he could be caught every single moment. He survived by using his natural motion vision to lead Sengoku in bushes and trip him over roots that stuck out. It slowed him down, but did not made him give up.

He quite enjoyed being marked like this. It was something he wasn’t used to, except for that one match with Tachibana that was truly thrilling. His breath sped up and he decided to entertain Sengoku for a little longer.

Sengoku himself was covered in little bruises and scrapes, but since he wasn’t wearing his fashionable, expensive clothes anymore, anything went. There were no girls around when Saeki moved the vest, but a kid that made fun of his underwear. He thought that Saeki must have felt the murderous aura, and he took off, with this dirty pants and vest as well. And now he was hunting him, in the dark woods with the evil fairies, which were of no concern to him at all. He tripped a few times, and he swore that Saeki looked back over his shoulder at him every time it happened, like he could predict it. He swore that he even looked like he was enjoying it.

If  the Chiba guy thought this was a game, then the game was on.

Saeki had been running out of stamina, and he could feel Sengoku’s breath on his chilly neck. It excited him, but he felt that his legs could give out any moment. The big tree that lined up before him with giant roots dealt another blow to his confidence. If he jumped over them, he would definitely trip because of the lack of power. He would use his last resort.

Sengoku finally had him cornered, and from the looks of it, he had also given up. Sengoku felt that he was tired, but the former rage still fuelled his flame. Hah, the idiot was running right into the tree and no-

Sengoku ducked right at the moment when the half eaten candy apple was thrown at his face. He did not manage to avoid it completely, and it squashed against his hair. Saeki had turned around and was facing him now. Sengoku was half trying to pull the hardened candy out of his hair, and half trying to avoid the maze of roots at his feet. He couldn’t pull too hard, because he feared that half of his bangs would come off as well.

“Yo-you!”

“You looked like you were about to kill me, Sengoku.”

“This won’t get off! Yo-you clam sucker!”, Sengoku said, as he lunged towards Saeki. Saeki easily avoided him.

“Hold on, I’ll peel it off for you”, Saeki offered, cautiously approaching Sengoku who was tearing out his cuticles.

“Don’t, touch me or I-“

Sploosh. Sengoku head butted against Saeki. With the other sticky end of the apple.

“H-h-huh!? It’s stuck to my bangs as well!”

Saeki screeched.

After Sengoku was able to pinch some sense into Saeki, both of them were wondering how to solve this extremely unlucky situation.

“Don’t move. If any of us move, we might fall and rip our hair apart.”, Sengoku stammered. Saeki felt a small breakdown coming up. “A-alright, I’m st-staying calm.”

Huh, Saeki was surprisingly fussy when it came to his hair, but Sengoku was in a pinch as well, so he could not make fun of it.

“Get yourself together, Saeki!”, Sengoku said, as he forced Saeki to look at him. He was slightly leaning, making their height difference apparent. “Look, I carry a flask of water in my vest, where is it?, he asked.

“Over there.”, Saeki said as he pointed towards the edge of where the roots stopped going.

“Why is my vest there, and on the ground!?”, Sengoku yelled.

“You looked really threatening and extra ballast slowed me down.”, Saeki said. He winced in pain from the small angry tug Sengoku did with his head. “Don’t be so forceful.”

“You’re unbelievable...”, Sengoku muttered, as he gauged the amount of steps they needed to take. “Let’s just slowly walk over there and see if the water can dissolve some of this mess.”

They both looked downstairs and tried to get their feet aligned. “We’ll do sidesteps, okay?”

They slowly shuffled past the roots, careful to not trip. “Look o-“

Saeki wobbled on his feet, and for a second it looked like they both were going to crash to the ground, but Sengoku caught his arms right on time, stabilizing both of them. His back was arched uncomfortably far, and Saeki was leaning over him. Did he actually see tears well up?

It must’ve been his imagination, because as soon as they continued shuffling, Saeki’s determined look at the ground continued. “Turn around.”, Sengoku said, as they neared the flask.

Doing as he was told, Saeki turned around. Sengoku leaned sideways, eyes on the flask, and they both quickly sat down.

“Don’t spill all of it.”, Saeki said, as Sengoku was pouring some of it on Saeki’s head. The comment alone made Sengoku want to douse him in cold water, but he still needed it to peel of his own part of the stickiness.

“Don’t damage the roots. Anything but that.”, Saeki whimpered. The defenceless Saeki resurfaced again. He kind of missed the arrogance he displayed earlier.

“I can’t promise anything.”, Sengoku said. “Take it as payback for the time you purposefully made me trip and crash in branches.

With every single piece of caramel that got pulled out of Saeki’s hair, Saeki let out a yelp. After a time, Sengoku tried doing multiple pieces at ones, just to enjoy his revenge. It didn’t matter that they were practically face to face with each other, Saeki was trying his hardest to focus on his hands and harden himself for the oncoming pain, while Sengoku was trying his darned best to make it an unforgettable experience, without mutilating his scalp too much. Sometimes he pulled a bit too much, and Saeki would retaliate by pulling away, which in turn would also pull Sengoku with him. A few curses were shat, and they continued their business.

“Almost done.”, Sengoku said, as he was pulling of the last pieces of the apple. He could move his head a bit more freely, which was really welcome after he pulled a neck cramp last time Saeki flinched. “You’re still going to need a lot of shampoo to clean this mess.”

They separated, and for once, Saeki looked relieved and genuinely happy. He ran his hands through his bangs and quickly pulled away when the sticky goo ran down his fingers.

“Look, it’s not the best, but at least the apple is gone.”, Sengoku sighed. He sat down and prepared for the hell that would come now. Whatever he did with Saeki for a moment, he would probably get back thousand fold.

He was pleasantly surprised when Saeki started removing the excess goo with great care. Every time he pulled of a piece of candy, he would be sure to apply pressure on the roots so none of them would pull his scalp along. Sengoku was admittedly a bit worried. It felt like he was building up towards the great finale, also known as pulling out everything at once, destroying his bangs, and his chance at a good love life.

Saeki noticed his tension. “Don’t worry, I’ll be gentle.”

“You don’t have to affirm it, you’re just making it scarier.”, Sengoku replied annoyed.

“Am I scary then?”, Saeki asked.

“You’re just too unpredictable.”, Sengoku answered. He was still a big question mark in his view. Whenever he thought that he had a grip on Saeki’s thought process, it would wash away the next second.

“Hm.”, Saeki hummed.  There was no need to talk about it.

“This sucks majorly...”, Sengoku muttered. All he wanted was a date, maybe a hug or forbid, even a kiss afterwards with a cute girl and have a fun time with the other couple. They’d go on subsequent dates, she’d become his girlfriend and they would do more stuff together... He actually wondered what that was like. He always got past the girlfriend stage, but beyond that, everything seemed to go wrong. He didn’t want to strain his head anymore, less he got a headache, so he sighed deeply and let his shoulders fall.

“Would you have liked this date if I were a girl?”, Saeki suddenly asked.

The cogs turned in Sengoku’s head for a moment. “Wh-what?”

“Like, if everything happened like it happened now, would you have enjoyed the date more if I was a girl.”

Sengoku thought about the seemingly innocuous question. “Of course I would, I mean, I’d still have stained hair and stuff, but at least I’d have a cute girl attending to me.”, Sengoku replied haphazardly. It really wasn’t such a hard question after all.

“Hm, I see. Then would you date me if I was a girl?”, Saeki asked again, with the same tone of voice as he asked before.

“What the heck are you asking!? There’s no way I can imagine you as a girl, th-that’s just weird and gross!”

“It’s a honest question you know. If I was born a female, would you mind dating me? I’m just curious.”, Saeki asked.

Sengoku knew he probably had that vacant stare on his face right now, and it angered him.”I’m not answering that question, you pervert.”

“Then, would you want to know if I’d date you, if I were a girl?”

What was this line of questioning. It really freaked Sengoku out, and if he weren’t chained to an apple and had a man cleaning his precious hair, he would have run for the city already.

“I don’t understand what you mean, honestly.”

“Think of it as a reference. I can tell you what you could do better about your womanizing ways.”, Saeki said. 

“Don’t tell that to me. I have more game than you, remember. If anything, I should be the one giving you advice.”

Saeki sighed inwardly. Sengoku was really thick. If he really was so good at this “game” of girls, he was talking about, how come he didn’t have one at his side right now? The man perplexed him, and he had a hunch that the blockage was self made. Now he was a bit interested in him, and by asking the questions, tried to pry a bit information out of him that could help him, but he was really on his guard.

“I wouldn’t date you if I were a girl.”, Saeki bluntly said.

“I wouldn’t want to date you either if you were girl.”, Sengoku replied. Sengoku felt Saeki momentarily stop pulling his hair. He was afraid that he would leave the apple in and ditch him for his answer, but who had the common sense to ask such trivial questions.

“It’s done.” Saeki said, as he removed the last piece. “You will need a lot of shampoo as well.”, he smiled, before handing over his pants and taking off.

“Hey, where are you going?”, Sengoku asked. He really didn’t understand his friend at all. While he himself was still fretting over the weird interrogation they had before, he was already walking back, simply unaware of anything that happened a few seconds before.

“I’m going back to the bus stop.”, Saeki said. “If you aren’t enjoying this date, and if I’m not enjoying it, what’s the point?”

The words struck Sengoku deep. He knew that Saeki was completely right about everything, it was his fault that Saeki was there, and deep inside he knew that taking Satsuki along was not the best idea, even though Hiyoko insisted. He knew that Saeki must have had a horrible time, but still persisted because he was trying to be a good friend to him and that it was partly his fault for ruining both of their hairs, but he was still frustrated and angry.

He tried his best to restrain himself, and not lash out. It wasn’t that hard either, it was kind of his daily persona that he kept up, being carefree and wandering. Luckily for him, Saeki didn’t walk any further and instead stared at him. Sengoku felt responsible for this whole mess, and whether he liked it or not, he would apologize for it.

“I’m sorry, Saeki.”, Sengoku said. There, he swallowed his pride. It was better to avoid conflict after all.

Saeki blinked. How was he supposed to react at it. Did Sengoku think that everything that happened was his fault? I mean, sure he dragged him in, but Saeki was the one who accepted. If anyone was at fault, it would be Saeki himself.

“You shouldn’t apologize, if anyone should do it, it’s me. I should not have proposed the date swap, it was too impulsive.”

“No, I dragged you into this, I knew about Satsuki’s dislike of strangers, and I knew that I kind of...used you to hook up with Hiyoko.”, Sengoku retaliated. His last words were filled with a bit of shame.

“But I accepted anyway, despite all that, and even continued. I’m to blame.”, Saeki said.

“No, I was being selfish and I used you to distract her friend so I could get some alone time, fully knowing that there was a huge chance that you wouldn’t enjoy it.”

Saeki and Sengoku alternated breathing deeply for a few seconds.

“I guess we’re both to blame huh?”, Saeki laughed. Sengoku did not expect his response, but got pulled along in the relaxed tone and gave a smile as well. “I guess we both are.”

“I think everything went wrong, as soon as we arrived without the right clothes. Even we can’t compete against cute girls in a yukata.”, Sengoku continued.

“I think the evil fairies from the forest interrupted as well.”, Saeki continued. They were chatting happily and trying to make their way through the uneven grounds.

“By the way, what did you mean, when you said you wouldn’t date me if you were a girl.”, Sengoku asked. Now that the mood lightened a bit, he didn’t feel too uncomfortable asking him.

“Oh, that? I guess you wouldn’t be my type at all.”, Saeki said.

“H-huh? Why, am I not the most perfect and attentive guy of all times?”, Sengoku desperately pleaded. “Didn’t Hiyoko look like she was having a fun time!”

“Before she walked out on you?”, Saeki teased.

“No but seriously, what’s wrong with me? For reference really!?”

Saeki thought a bit before continuing: “For one, you’re a really approachable guy, so that’s kind of a plus, but you’re way too defensive. Like, even if a girl would want to know you, you’d seem like the type that wouldn’t reveal anything personal.”

“What? Oh no, c’mon man, like, I’m the most open book you could have. Like, look at me! Do I look shady? Is it the eyelids?”, Sengoku said. He didn’t understand what Saeki was saying to him, or at least pretended not to understand it.

“Do any of your female friends know about your magic crystal hoarding?”, Saeki asked.

Well, of course they did. And after they knew, they would turn around at him and laugh, so this year, he prevented anyone, except Saeki and the occasional teammate from finding out about it. His attractive status rose.

“Not exactly, but that’s beside the point. You don’t  bring up clams either, when you’re trying to flirt, are you?”, Sengoku countered.

“Hm, I don’t have that much experience with it, but I’m sure everyone I know on a friend level knows about me and Icchan being in the clam gathering club. Icchan even told me that girls joined because I was in there, but I thought he was joking.”

“O-okay, but that has nothing to do with me being defensive right? Look, you can ask me any question and I will honestly answer it! Well until a certain degree, of course, but go!”, Sengoku said, wildly flailing his arms in an attempt to show off his friendliness.

“Then, why did you say you wouldn’t date me if I was a girl?”, Saeki asked. He wanted to know.

“That was just in the spur of the moment you know... If y-you were a really cute girl, of course I would d-date you.”, Sengoku stuttered. He looked up to gauge Saeki’s reaction, but was instead met by “the stare”.

“What’s on my face!”, Sengoku yelled embarrassedly.

“Hm, nothing. Then what if I were a boy?”

“What!?”

“And you a girl of course, unless you insist on being a boy, whi-“

“Ho-hold on! You’re just taking advantage of the friendly momentum we had right now, aren’t you?”, Sengoku screeched. His face got as red as the candy apple, and he started distancing himself.

“Friendly momentum? I’m just curious if you think anything is wrong with me. For reference.”, Saeki added. “I’d like to think of myself as a person who would not have many troubles attracting girls, but the mishap from this evening told me otherwise.”

“I think that was just Satsuki you know. You look fine and all. Which girl wouldn’t want you?”, Sengoku said. He was a bit envious of Saeki. He made it look so easy, while Sengoku himself was pouring his lifeblood into it.

“So, if you were a girl, you wouldn’t mind dating me?”, Saeki persisted.

“You can’t just ask a guy who has been a guy for 15 years that question. That’s like asking a child about the financial economy!”

“But you seem good at fantasizing, at least that’s what your sister told me. This should seem easy for you.”, Saeki said.

Sengoku’s inner demon awakened. “She did what!? What did she tell you!?”

Sengoku sprung up, almost dropping his pants and vest.

“Oh, she only told me that you like to imagine things out loud. I don’t know the details, but she said she had recordings. You must have a very creative mind.”

The stare. But that was not his biggest problem. The recordings were. “I’m going to  hmhmmurw that hmwrh...”, Sengoku muttered angrily.

“Don’t try to escape the questions by coming up with murder plots for your sister. Please answer me honestly.”, Saeki asked.

It took a while for Sengoku to get out of his self anger, but he knew he kind of owed an answer.”

“No, I wouldn’t date you if I were a girl.”, Sengoku said.

Saeki was shocked. He knew that Satsuki was an exception at rejections, but to receive another one so soon?

“Why not? Didn’t you say that no girl couldn’t resist me?”

“I mean, you have the looks and the personality, probably the money and even the kindness...”

“Then what’s wrong?”, Saeki asked a bit too desperate. It was one of the few times that Sengoku managed to break his composure, so he went on.

“You’re too passive. Girls probably flock to you, but they will soon discover that there’s not a lot of content bluntly said. I kind of meant, you don’t look like you would take any serious steps.”

“Now, that’s a bit mean don’t you think. I can be serious.”, Saeki pouted.

“But she still has to be there when you finally turn serious.”, Sengoku said. For once, he could smartass Saeki, and it felt pretty awesome.

“I feel hurt you know.”

“Then just better. What did you think I felt when you told that you wouldn’t date me.”, Sengoku retaliated. If he had to take it like a champ, Saeki should as well.

“I guess that’s true. We’re really opposite types after all huh?”, Saeki said. “Completely incompatible.”

“Yeah, it does seem so. Guess I have to loosen up more, even though I don’t think that’s possible and you should get more serious.”, Sengoku continued.

Between all the chatting, they arrived at the bus stop, and took a seat. Everyone was on the hill, anticipating the fireworks, so the streets were empty and dim. They sat in silence, once in a while checking the time schedule. It would take a bit of waiting, but both of them wanted to go home as soon as possible, to liquidate the goo out of their hair and jump in their bed.

Saeki spoke up: “Sengoku, about the question if I would date you if I was a girl, I lie-“

Fireworks filled the air. Without noticing, the first rod had been shot, and had now exploded in a giant mass of lights. The flower pattern was visible from the bus stop, and both Saeki and Sengoku walked out to observe the following explosions. The sounds were deafening, and resounded through the forest.

“Wow, look, that one has a clover pattern! How lucky!”, Sengoku yelled over the noises.

Saeki simply smiled.

The bus ride to Tokyo was silent.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


	4. Unexpected guests

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "You like who you like."

“Okay, before you enter my room, I have to say this. Don’t touch anything!”, Sengoku had warned him. “Everything is arranged so that I have the maximum amount of luck and fortune according to the geomancy. If you mess it up, the consequences could be catastrophic.”

Saeki had just nodded.

“I’ll go shower first, you can just wait there, and see that you don’t lean on anything with your messy hair.”

After that, Saeki was left alone in the room. He did what he was told and sat on Sengoku’s bed, admiring the amount of mess he was allowed to get away with. The floor was covered in magazines, drawings, calligraphy, lottery cards and trinkets. His balcony had unfamiliar, creepy looking puppets hanging from them, and a few religious symbols. Even the books on his desk had made place for a gigantic statue of some kind of deity that he did not dare to touch. The ceiling was covered in non-risque pictures of pop idols. So that’s what Sengoku’s taste was like, huh.

The shelves were lined with the various “magical” crystals Sengoku had told him about. Every single one was in a case, labelled with its name, origin and main purposes. Saeki was impressed by the amount of effort it would have taken. He even had a recharging station, which consisted of an ultraviolet lamp shining at a circular pad. Many of the purposes were romantically themed it seemed. He had a batch of  crystals for “First meeting”, “First crush”, “First love”, “First hug”, “First Kiss”...

Saeki stopped reading any further in order to preserve his integrity. The trash in his room reminded him of Sengoku’s free-spirited nature. He liked how he was so predictable. He always tried so hard to be smooth and charming, but inside he was just...a plain pseudo-science enthusiast who was easy to aggravate. He remembered the first time he used his “normal” face on him when Sengoku accused him of flirting with his sister. He always got so uncomfortable. Bringing out his un cool side was really adorable, even if Saeki didn’t really mean to.

He thought a bit about his interrupted sentence. Sengoku wasn’t that bad after all.

* * *

 

Sengoku was scrubbing his hair with all the shampoo that he could find. He didn’t find his colour preserving shampoo, but that was the least of his problems. The caramel had encrusted to his bangs, and he turned up the temperature a few notches more than he was comfortable, to smoothen it out. The little mirror in the shower room helped immensely. He saw that his hair  had discoloured a little, a bit of the semi dye had washed away, and it revealed his dark brown roots. He wouldn’t go outside tomorrow.

After a lengthy amount of rinsing, he was finally done and went to dry himself with a towel. The defogged mirror of the bathroom made it easier for him to observe how much the damage would be to his love life. For the first time, he noticed the numerous scrapes and scars along his face. They were only superficial so no blood was drawn, but it did detract from his usual elastic skin. Perhaps girls would find it cool, but he didn’t want to stay scarred like that forever. Perhaps he should desinfect it, before the wounds would get infected and swell up horribly. He put the towel aside and started rummaging in the cabinets to find the rubbing alcohol. Huh, that was weird. He didn’t remember the bottle having a dispenser.

The loud scream jolted Saeki from his semi-slumber.  He sprung up and opened the door of Sengoku’s room. Crashing noises and the sound of thumping on the wall emerged from the bathroom.

“Sengoku! Are you okay!”, Saeki yelled, sneaking up to the bathroom and leaning against the door.

“I’m not okay!”, Sengoku yelled. He accidentally squirted the rubbing alcohol in his eye and now he was running around blindly, trying to find the faucet, but he slipped on the shower water and instead crashed into the long body mirror that was next to the shower.

Saeki slowly creeked the door open to find Sengoku in all his glory, and then closed it again. “I’m sorry, you don’t like me seeing you in various states of undress do you?”

“My eyes. Are. On. Fire!”, Sengoku yelled.

Sengoku wouldn’t mind it, he guessed. Saeki ran in and found Sengoku, with a modesty towel haphazardly thrown on his privates, screaming bloody murder, while crying excessively.

“What happened!? “, he asked, trying to assess the damage.

“Alcohol...in my eye...”, Sengoku muttered.

“Oh, it’s only that, here I thought you accidentally poked yourself in the eye with something.”, Saeki said. “Wait a second, I know what to do.”

Saeki scrambled around and grabbed the shower head, pushing it into Sengoku’s hand with the exit turned to his eyes.

“Brace yourself!”

Hot water sprayed on Sengoku’s face.

It took some seconds of fiddling and screeching before Saeki realized what was wrong and to turn the water's temperature down. Between the screams, he noticed Sengoku had closed his eyes. He ran towards, him, trying to avoid the mess that he had created.

“Open your eyes Sengoku!”

“It hurts! My face hurts! Everything hurts!”

“Kiyosumi! Open your eyes! If you don’t, you’ll end up blind and you’ll never see a girl again!’”, Saeki yelled.

Sengoku glanced upwards through his swollen eyelids and glared at the use of his name.

“Perfect.”,  Saeki said, as he took the shower head from his hand and pushed it full blast in his face.

2minutes of incoherent babbling, forced face stretching and scratching later, Saeki turned off the faucet and asked if Sengoku was alright.

“Can you see me?”, Saeki asked.

“I can’t feel my face.”, Sengoku answered. His head was pounding, his face was incredibly sore from the rough treatment of the water and in all that, he was somehow a bit glad that the modesty towel was still there.

“How much fingers can you see?”

“None.”

“Oh okay, you seem alright.”, Saeki said, pulling his fist out of Sengoku’s face. “Uh, where are the towels, it looks like we’re going to need them.”

Saeki was glad that their shower was on an incline. It netted that Sengoku was ankle deep soaked in water, but that the doorway was still relatively dry.

“Storage cabinet in the hallway.”, Sengoku groaned. His eyes still stung, but the pain had subsided a bit more. It was probably because the pain of every other body part and the cold wet water had numbed his feeling.

“Alright, Saeki said, walking to the hallway on his wet feet. Don’t move from that position.”, he said. The body mirror hadn’t shattered completely, but a few of the pieces were still floating around on the film of water.

The cabinet was easily found and stored the vacuum, cleaning tools and fresh sheets with the towels stowed away on the most nearby shelf. It was a bit narrow, and it made Saeki feel a bit uncomfortable. He quickly grabbed the towels and the squeegee, not bothering to close the door and spurted back to the bathroom.

The water had mostly drained. Saeki threw some towels at Sengoku, before carefully wiping away the glass shards to the side. He’d clean it up later, but Sengoku was his priority now.

“Can you stand?”, Saeki asked. Sengoku glared at him. “If you don’t give me a proper response I will just carry you, you know.”

Sengoku didn’t like the serious tone of his voice. It would’ve been a teasing remark, but Saeki didn’t give him the usual “stare” that accompanied any of those. Instead, he looked worried.

“I’m fine.”, Sengoku said, holding his towels in front of him, tying one behind. Saeki pulled him up and kept him from stumbling or slipping on the floor. “I’m going to my room. You can shower yourself.”

He left Saeki and waddled to his open room with the large towel draping behind him. He was glad to see that everything had remained the same, except for the butt-shaped mark left by Saeki on his bed. A cramp shot through his body as he sat down; he jerked and rolled on his bed. The soft, warm feeling didn’t compare to the countless times he collapsed after an especially harsh tennis or boxing training, but he revelled in the fluffy blanket. He almost felt like Banji, his joints protested every movement. Realizing he couldn’t stay in all his human glory (dare Saeki come in, unannounced), he wrapped the blanket around himself and took slow steps to his closet. Sliding the door open, he found his colour coded clothes, arranged in piles that varied from red to  violet and the monotone and greyscales beneath. The ones on top were light, nearing the bottom they became darker.

He liked being organized, despite what his room looked like. He would be able to find almost every single object in his room, if prompted.

A simple shirt would suffice for now, together with some plain shorts. Nothing too fancy, and easily washed if some of his dye would rub off. Sengoku simply didn’t care that much at the moment. He also knew that Saeki had to sleep somewhere, so he grabbed the spare futon that was wedged between the head of his bed and the wall. After a bit of pulling he managed to unfold it. The books on the ground were swiftly swept away by his feet and he plopped the thing down, stomping on the corners to make them stay flat. He threw one of his blankets on it, not really bothering to arrange it, and jumped back into his bed, letting his mattress absorb the excess water while simultaneously cuddling up to his blankets, staving off the cold air and...maybe a little bit of the loneliness?

He heard footsteps descending the stairs, but they faded away when he dozed off.

* * *

 

Saeki held the warm tea mugs in his hands. He hoped that Sengoku wouldn’t have mind it, he didn’t knew his specific tastes so he just used the standard instant tea bags he found on the counter. After showering, he was glad to find that his permanent dye hadn’t faded, and that Sengoku didn’t pull out every single hair. A little brushing would help it. He cleaned up the shards, and hung his towels out to dry. The mirror couldn’t be helped, but he was sure that Sengoku’s parents were reasonable people. He made sure that the lights were out in the kitchen and in the bathroom, returned all the tools he used and closed the storage room.

Now he was nearing Sengoku’s room, which was still open. He knocked and leaned in.

“Sengoku?”

He looked at the mess of blankets and his somewhat damp friend who was sleeping serenely. Saeki walked in and put the mugs on the shelves, before closing the door softly. He walked over to the night desk and pushed the fake fashion glasses away, placing the hot beverages.

“Sengoku?”, Saeki whispered again, shaking his shoulder softly.

No reaction. He should have guessed, both of them were a exhausted after all. He leaned with his back on the bed and sat on the futon, with the mug of tea in his lap. Sipping once in a while, he wondered if his parents were discussing about him at the moment. He knew his father could be stern, but Saeki also had his intern drive to be perfect, even if it could become overbearing at times. Even in his outward appearance and personality, he tried to be a bit plain, but everyone called him a very flashy person. His sister once said that dying his hair white really made him look cool, and that doing his skincare and eyebrows everyday was a must for most boys. The little Kojirou from back then was easily deceived, and let his sister do whatever she wanted to do with him, and to his surprise, it really helped. Combined with his natural lenient personality, he quickly rose to the top of his class in popularity, despite not really knowing what to do with it. In a way, it gave him some arrogance, the kind of arrogance he really didn’t want to show, but sometimes sneaked out if put under pressure.

It was not his fault that he was so flashy, he tried to convince himself.

For a few seconds, he looked at Sengoku’s unmoving face. Was it his imagination or were his eyebrows trimmed a bit. His hair was dripping a little bit, and a wet spot had formed beneath his head. Saeki sighed a little. He reminded him of Bane or Shudo, when they both refused to dry their hair properly. Kentarou would do the same, if he had hair. It couldn’t be helped.

Saeki pushed his hand carefully beneath Sengoku’s head and lifted it. With the other, he pulled the pillow from beneath him, and turned it around, making sure that his neck was fully supported. His hand lingered at the tips of Sengoku’s hair, which was surprisingly fluffy. The patches of brown that showed, made him look like he missed some spots with coloured hairspray. His fingers wandered down to the nape of his neck, while he still observed the hair. His two big curls looked glued on, but on closer inspection they were just excessively long strands that had escaped the barber. Did Sengoku straighten his hair? The sight of a curly haired Sengoku entertained Saeki, as he brought the mug back to his lips.

After the last sip, he turned around and poked Sengoku one last time to see if he was fully asleep. The lack of movement made Saeki put his own mug away and put a cover on Sengoku’s mug. He pulled the cord of the colourful table lamp and tucked himself away underneath the rather thin cover.

“Goodnight.”

He appreciated his eccentricity.  Saeki closed his eyes and let himself drift off.

* * *

 

Sengoku found himself on the main street of the festival, lights off and silence all around. Surprisingly he wasn’t afraid, and just continued following the road. With every step, the road widened and the forest grew smaller. He couldn’t feel the contact of his feet and the ground, simply floating while attempting to move his legs in a walking fashion.

He had no real purpose; it seemed right to keep on moving. His wandering was rewarded with the silhouette of a person rising at the horizon. The widening went quicker, the ground behind him started crumbling and made way for a grassy patch, that climbed, until Sengoku was walking down a steep hill. Stars suddenly started growing in the air, enlarging in purplish red clouds, but non-threathening. He was only focused on one thing at the bottom. A young girl stood there, waving at him.

Hiyoko? She was running towards him, and he did the same, and with every step, colour splashed from her feet, slowly painting her in vibrant colours. She looked exactly like Sengoku remembered, her hair bouncing in a ponytail. She was happy, and he was happy, even if he didn’t remember how he felt exactly.

The grass behind them started withering away, and as soon as they were able to touch each other, he pulled her in an embrace.  The ground shattered under them and for a while they held each other, blissfully unaware that they were floating in space.

“I love you, Sengoku.”, Hiyoko said. Sengoku wanted to affirm this, but he couldn’t get any word out no matter how hard he tried. Instead, he rubbed her back reassuringly, moving up to her hair, stroking it. Her hair wasn’t as soft as he expected it to be, and when he tugged to get his hand loose, it got entangled with a braid that wasn’t there before. Sengoku loosened his grip and looked downwards. Satsuki was clinging to him instead of Hiyoko, eyes hidden by bangs. “I love you, Sengoku.”, she repeated. “Don’t you want to be my boyfriend?”, she pleaded, looking at him with her pointy eyes.

Sengoku pulled back. The braid loosened and changed into short, yellow hair. His “ex” appeared and was holding both of his wrists aggressively. “Sengoku, why did you break up with me!? Didn’t you say you loved me?”

Well, this was awkward.

While Sengoku would have loved to say that yes, he loved her and wanted to be with her, both his mind and tongue failed him. It’s not like he didn’t want to, he just couldn’t. He slowly drifted farther away, the distance between them widening, and eventually, she failed to restrain him. Her eyes welled up and tears fell down, but even if he would try to reach out to the crying girl, he wouldn’t have reached her. He looked on as she slowly disappeared out of sight. A lump of flesh suddenly appeared on his cheek, stinging and hot, but touching it gave no response. The fabric of his clothes was indistinguishable and his fingers grew even more numb.

For an endless seeming time, he floated in the dim matter. The purplish red stars had disappeared, and only faint spots dotted the distant sky. Closing his eyes didn’t help, he couldn’t control where he was floating to or from, and his body felt heavy. Sengoku wasn’t sure what was happening, but he was content. No one would disturb him, and he could finally have some pea-

“Sengoku?”

A familiar but unknown voice called out to him, accompanied with a soft white mist wafting through the matter, carrying a smell of domestic nature. It was a nice smell, but he still feigned ignorance. It would wash away soon.

“Sengoku?”, the voice called out to him again.

He held his breath for a few moments. Who was it, calling out to him? The spots had started glowing vibrantly again, and for a second, Sengoku was afraid the intruder would use them to blind him. He did not want anyone to get in here.  The lights dimmed again, and Sengoku exhaled. He had started sweating on his cheek and neck, following the anxious circumstances of his unknown situation.

The white mist took a while, but either it was fading, or Sengoku’s nose got numb. Both were very plausible explanations.

Suddenly, a faint shadow touched his skin. It was for a mere moment, but the sweat got wiped away and he felt himself land in an invisible cushion. He tensed up. Someone had invaded his place. He wished for the entity to disappear and leave him be, but instead it started stroking his hair, though very lightly. The touch extended to its nape, and while admittedly comforting,  it was not what Sengoku wanted. A final jab in his rib completed the progress. His body accepted the touches, wanting to embrace the warmth they brought forth, but his mind struggled, closing of the last of his sensory capabilities.

* * *

 

Sengoku was the first one to wake, unsurprisingly, as the other was definitely not a morning person. When he opened his eyes, he first noticed Saeki’s face a few inches away from his. While there was no actual need to be embarrassed, Sengoku quickly retreated to the wall, suppressing his urge to blush.

The morning sun had started peeking through his curtains. It reminded him to get the post, which included the news and the daily astrology corner, but for now, he was okay taking it a bit slower and stretching a bit. He went and reached for his phone, but was surprised by the empty mug that stood on his nightstand. Next to it, there was a covered one, so he carefully measured the weight before picking it up. When he removed it, he could smell the cold tea.

Did Saeki make this? He was rather perplexed why he would do something like that. He must not have noticed Saeki going to sleep.

Despite not liking cold tea at all, he took a sip. It was horribly bitter; Saeki probably didn’t knew his preferences. He tried one more, and decided that it was better thrown away.

He was careful not to wake Saeki, as he tottered around his body on the futon. Waking Saeki was probably the least of his problems, but he didn’t want to deal with unnecessary questions, or even worse, the “stare”.

Once he was downstairs, he poured the tea away and took a jug of orange juice of the fridge, his favourite drink. Pouring himself a glass, he enjoyed refreshing his throat, before making his way to the front door. The front porch still looked as unkempt as ever, but the day was sunny, with the morning breeze feeling chillier than usual. He retrieved the paper from the built in post bin, and shuffled back inside.

Throwing the paper on the table, Sengoku went upstairs once more to get his clothes and check on Saeki. Peeking at his friend, he was still blissfully ignorant and asleep, despite the sun nearing his face. Sengoku decided to see how  far he could take it.

“Saeki, wake up. My parents could be here any moment now.”, he said. No reaction, as expected. He moved a bit closer this time, leaning above his head.

“Wake up.”

Not even a single twitch. He was quite a heavy sleeper. Sengoku stood up and went to the curtains, preparing himself for the oncoming disaster.

“Wake - he pulled one curtain aside - up!”

The sun almost blinded Sengoku, if he wasn’t already used to it. The beam instantly illuminated Sengoku’s room, with the trinkets reflecting it in all directions. Sengoku observed Saeki. There was no way he couldn’t wake up from this.

Aside from a small twitch at his eyes, Saeki had no intention of waking up. Sengoku took the challenge. He inched closer, until he was next to Saeki’s ear, cupped his hand around it and screamed: “Wake up!”

Saeki jerked, elbowing Sengoku in his stomach and promptly rolling up in a caterpillar form. Sengoku fell against his desk, and could catch his statue right on time. “C’mon dude, it’s 8 am.”, he grunted.

“No...talk...gettout...”, Saeki muttered from his blanket burrito.

He looked at the childish way Saeki chose to deal with the situation and decided to let him be for a while. Once he got cleaned up and clothed, he would return and see if he could produce coherent sentences.

The bathroom was surprisingly well kept. Saeki had cleansed the area of shards, all the towels, including his own (when did Saeki get that one?) were hanging from the wash lines and the shower head was placed in its rightful holder. The rubbing alcohol stood in its place, not like Sengoku would bother to check it, and there was no wet spot to be seen. It was kind of freaky.

His hair still had the horrible brown splotches. Seeing as he did not really have the patience to semi-dye it, he used the reserve hairspray he had and hoped for the best. Orange was a really nice colour, especially the neon kind was his favourite hue. It made him stand out. The protective cover was on his shoulders, and after fixing the spots and withstanding the stinking damp, he ruffled a few times through with his palm, making sure that the spray actually stayed on. Washing the misguided blots of his hands and face, brushing his teeth and painfully trying to keep from plucking his eyebrows, Sengoku put on his lounging gear and sneaked back up to his room.

He slammed the door open. “Saeki a-“

The little shit. He had wurmed his way to the curtains and had closed them both, while also having stolen Sengoku’s pillow and was happily snoring away on that.

“Okay, enough of this Saeki. It’s already half past 8, time to get up.”, Sengoku said, shaking the white monstrosity. Its response was crumpling even more together. Sengoku had an amazing idea.

“If you don’t want to wake up, I’ll force you.”

He rolled Saeki on his side, which wasn’t really hard, considering the latter was not putting any effort in maintaining his position. The curtains were opened, and Sengoku unlocked the deadbolt that held the balcony doors closed. Granted, it was a very small balcony, and Sengoku used it to air out his pillow cover and protection spirits, but it still had enough place for a stubborn housecat. One simple push, and Saeki was thrown to the mercy of the Sun God and his siblings, Mother Nature and Aunt I’m freezing my balls off. To add injury to the insult, he also closed the doors, so Saeki could not wurm his way back inside.

“I’ll be back in about a quarter. Please don’t try to jump from the balcony.”, Sengoku yelled. He didn’t have to worry about Saeki doing stupid things, the blob didn’t even twitch.

Inside, Saeki was majorly pissed. Like, vengeance on your entire bloodline pissed. Waking him up in the morning was one thing, forcefully removing him from the safe warm spot that was Sengoku’s room was an entirely other, unforgivable thing. He would plan his revenge, but the headache from his lack of sleep was coming, so he decided to use the quarter he had for napping, which was really hard with that stupid aunt. Glancing from beneath the covers, Saeki saw the perfect opportunity.

Sengoku was eating the leftover rice from the previous morning. It was bland, but not entirely gross and it beat having to put any effort into making breakfast himself. His horoscope said that he would have average luck that day, which he liked, seeing as all his unluckiness should have been used up this morning. His mind wandered off to Saeki’s behaviour. It really clashed with the tea and the bathroom. Sengoku smiled. Maybe he wasn’t that plain of a guy after all. It was hard to see anything behind that handsome, oblivious face and his nature. Perhaps, he finally got a little grasp on what Saeki was thinking for once.

All that would be thrown away in mere seconds.

* * *

 

The front door slammed open, and Sengoku’s father loudly announced their return.

“Hiyo Kiyosumin! How has it been? House hasn’t burned down yet I see?”, he said. He was a jolly man, in a boring job, so why not make up for it.

Sengoku was trying really hard to not choke on his rice.

“Dear, look, you surprised him so much that he’s turning blue.”

His mother stood behind him. “Oh, don’t worry Kiyosumin, this is a sign from the gods that you will definitely be lucky today!”, she said, enclosing her arms around Sengoku for a welcome hug and the Heimlich manoeuvre at the same time. The wad of rice landed on his sister’s shoulder, who rapidly took the kitchen towel to rub it off. “You guys are really gross.”

“Honey, at least it was the right shoulder! You know what they say about the left one.”, his dad replied. “Well, actually I don’t remember, but it would be bad! Think of it as your early bean throwing rite.”

“Well then Kiyosumin. You got lucky tonight?”, his father asked, taking a seat at the kotatsu while his wife was looking if he had left any rice.

“N-no, not exactly.”, Sengoku stammered. He was in major crap now. His mind started racing to find an excuse to go to his room, but he bet that his parents would want to know every single detail about the summer festival last night. It was one of the reasons they left him at home, even providing “that”, with a wink.

“Huh, how boring.”, his mom said.”Not even a kiss? A hug? Did you even hold hands?”, she continued. “How am I going to get grandchildren?”

“Dear, don’t worry, look, we still have our other child! If only she believed in our fortune, we’d have been grandparents already.”, his dad rejoiced.

Sengoku didn’t understand his sister at times, who didn’t like the whole astrology business at all. How did she decide things? But listening to his parents, he could kind of empathize with her. They could be a little bit overbearing.

“We held hands. A bit.”, Sengoku said.

“Oh, my I hope you didn’t take her hand holding virginity.”

“Oh that’s a new one. High five buddy!”

His parents were surely overbearing. He guessed it was their way of showing affection. But now he really needed to go upstairs. He stood up to put his bowl away and slowly stepped towards the stairs, careful to not attract the attention of his parents. Once he reached the bottom, he spurted upwards, leaving a trail of dust in his wake.

“Oh my, is he going to hide his “you know what”?”, his mother suggested.

“At least he fought his urges like a man yesterday! Maybe even this morning!”

They both started laughing at the top of their lungs. Sengoku’s sister turned her eyes. She shouldn’t have let them drink so much sake. Doing it in the morning would not prevent the hangover that would occur in the evening, but she didn’t think that both of them really minded. Throwing the kitchen towel on the sink, she took a double take when she saw the two mugs.

Sengoku smashed in his room and quickly folded up the futon, compressing it under his bed. After he realized that folding made it too thick, he spread it out and tried it again, only to find out that “astrology” magazines were blocking its path. In his panic, he rolled it up and shoved it behind the nightstand, not really hidden from view, but easily coverable by the curtains if needed. His next problem would be harder. Now he had to deal with an angry Saeki, and he wasn’t sure about sending his friend away in only his pajamas, but it had to happen.

“Saeki, you would not believe this but-“

The sight he encountered made him want to throw Saeki of his balcony. He had spun the pillow covers at various heights, creating a makeshift shield that protected him from the sun and the chilly breeze. Most of his covers were dark as well, so it did a pretty good job. Saeki was still asleep.

“Asshole!”, he yelled, trying to roll Saeki back to his room.

He tensed up. Someone was coming upstairs. He had a hard time distinguishing between his mother or sister, but he hoped the latter, because the former always told Sengoku to air out his room more.

He cursed a few times and attempted to roll Saeki back to the balcony, which was hard since he spread out his legs and was now too tall to fit through the doors horizontally.

“Saeki, get out.”, he whispered. The stubborn log at his feet refused to budge. “At least, pretend to be a burglar or something if my mother walks in.”

No reaction.

“Kiyosumin, what a mess. I can smell your room from here.”, Sengoku’s mother said. Crap. It was the worst case scenario. Sengoku pulled his leg away when he suddenly felt something wriggling.

“What time is it?”, Saeki asked. He had thrown the covers off and was now rubbing his head. Despite his grogginess, he still looked as handsome as ever, with his hair falling in the right place. The sun gave for splendid backlighting, and the unbuttoned shirts on the top made it look like he came right out of a magazine.

“Sengoku, you have to air- oh my.”

Sengoku’s mother stood still for a moment, trying to understand the scene. A handsome boy lay underneath Sengoku’s bed covers, next to the balcony which illuminated his backside. Her son looked like a deer in the headlights of a big truck, hands half raised like he was about to grab a midget’s shoulders.

“Hello miss.”, Saeki said, flashing a smile.

* * *

 

Saeki was sitting at their table, chatting with Sengoku’s dad while drinking some morning tea, he had made. “Yesterday was indeed quite fun.”

“Ohoho!”, Sengoku’s dad cheered. “I can tell from your attire alone boy.”

He winked a few times before motioning to Saeki’s chest. “Oh, I must’ve forgotten to button them up during my haste. Yesterday was a very sticky situation.”

Sengoku could not believe this. He was currently washing the dishes, and every time he would want to yell out in protest, his mom reprimanded him to focus on his chores.

“I hope you’re all cleaned up now.”, his dad said. Never ever did he think that his son would fall for the other side, but hey, the more options you have the better. He didn’t really care, as long as they continued the Sengoku legacy he would be happy.

“Yes, it took quite a lot of scrubbing to get it all out of our hair.”

“Oh my”, Sengoku’s mother said, holding the towel before her mouth. Sengoku was ignoring everything. His ears were shut, and he was blocking out everything that had to do with Saeki. A small giggle from upstairs warned Sengoku that he still had a sister, who would make his life a living hell probably.

“I uh, hope my son – he wiggled his eyebrows – wasn’t too violent?”

“Oh no, he was very passive. He even fell asleep before I knew it. On the contrary, indirectly due to me we had to get his eyes cleaned out.”, Saeki said, putting his mug down.

The giggles from upstairs couldn’t hide the beep that signified the starting of a recording. This was the reason that he did not bring any girls over. His parents were too...

He sighed.

“Well, I guess Kiyosumin can still see alright.”, his mother said, shoving her hand in his face, making him flinch.

“Saeki, you’re a good man, no, a good friend. This is the first time Sengoku brought someone over that didn’t mind his...hobbies.”, his dad said sadly. “I really appreciate you being there for him, I really do.”

“He is pleasant to be with, so I don’t really mind it.”, Saeki smiled.

“Dear, switch places with me.”, Sengoku’s dad said. “I’m afraid I have become overrun with emotions.”

“Oh dear. Saeki, do you really not mind? Sengoku is lazy, messy, puts all his faith into pseudoscience, will probably ditch you if there are any problems, has commitment issues, dyes his hair way too often than what’s good for his allowance, an extreme lecher that is not looking at the right places, his eyebrows are terribly plucked, he didn’t make it to being captain because he was too busy chatting with a random girl that stole his wallet afterwards and is not good at cooking, cleaning or anything that takes his attention more than 5 minutes.”, his mom rambled.

Sengoku grunted. Thanks for the faith mom.

“I think those are endearing qualities of him.”, Saeki said. While all the things they said were quite true probably, they made up for an interesting person who knew his ways around people. He was direct, upfront, honest to a degree and the little mishaps added to him.

“Honey, I can’t handle it either. Kiyosumin, how did you manage to reel in a good boyfriend like this.”

“He’s not my boyfriend.”, Sengoku abruptly said.

“Sorry miss, I’m not romantically involved with Sengoku in any way.”

His mom looked at Sengoku with tears in her eyes. “Was it simply...a fling? You lost your virg-“

“- No mom! I’m not gay!”, Sengoku yelled desperately. Trying to convince his sister was enough, but even trying to convince the friend of Saeki's sister was already quite the chore. Why did they keep asking him that.

“Bi?”, his dad coughed.

“I’m really sick of you guys!”, Sengoku yelled. He stomped away, leaving the room in dead silence. Saeki didn’t feel well either and made an attempt at following Sengoku, but he was held back by a strong hand.

“Don’t worry about it. He’s just sorting out his teenage issues.”

 Saeki reluctantly sat back down, not sure what to do in the situation. Perhaps he should put on his clothes and leave the house quietly.

* * *

 

Sengoku hugged his pillow. He didn’t understand why everyone around him was teasing him so much about Saeki. Was it because they weren’t fighting and doing bro things together that they were suddenly in love? Would he have to jab Saeki a few times in the face before they would realize that they were only, and it would only remain that, friends? At times, Sengoku wished it would be more acceptable for boys to just be nice to each other. Life would be so much easier. Girls did it all the time, didn’t they? Heck, they even kissed, and everyone would still call them best friends.

An unwelcome image of Saeki kissing Sengoku came up in his mind. No, no, if two boys did that, it would definitely be weird. Sengoku slapped himself a few times, to get the image out. Were hugs fine? Saeki was a bit taller than him, so he would have to be content with smelling his neck, bu-

No, Sengoku, what the heck were you thinking. Boys didn’t do public displays of affection like girls did. And he never did any of those with Saeki, so why was it that everyone was so hell bent on seeing the two of them as lovers. Saeki wasn’t even his type, his type was...

Well, someone cute he guessed. He never really thought about his favourite type. He tried to compare the personalities of some girls he dated before, but he didn’t really found anything he was particularly attracted to. Most of them only shared the fact that they were girls. That brought him back to the question that Saeki asked him. Would he date Saeki if he, were to be a she?

Sengoku strained his head. What made it so that Sengoku immediately said no at that question. At first, he’d try to nail Saeki’s personality down. He was oblivious and stupidly honest. Those were the two qualities that kind of clashed with Sengoku, but he didn’t think he would mind them that much in a girl. Next, he was nice, observing, caring and a really good person all around. Sengoku would almost feel guilty if he were to date such a girl.

Then what was the problem? Was it that he couldn’t really picture Saeki as a girl at all? If he tried, he could picture Dan, and even Akutsu (though he would never fall for girls like that, no matter how hard he tried). Maybe picturing Saeki as a woman was inherently wrong. He couldn’t just copy paste his features on a woman’s body and expect it to change his entire view. Saeki was still Saeki.

And admittedly, he kind of liked him.

While Sengoku was angsting about his sexuality, Saeki tiptoed upstairs to retrieve his clothing from the bathroom. Sengoku’s room door was closed, so Saeki didn’t bother knocking.

The bathroom was still like he left it. His family must not have found out about the broken mirror yet. While changing, Saeki thought a bit more about Sengoku.

At first, he was content just talking to him about his love for astrology. The way his eyes lit up were really nice, and the enthusiasm kept both of them going while messaging until late nights. The teasing started after, even not meaning to, but it was a bit fun to see. Saeki didn’t really understand why he felt the way he did about Sengoku. In his mind, Sengoku was only a friend with whom he could talk about things and not grow tired of. He was a bit brattish, remembering the torture that he underwent in the forest. But he was a good guy, wasn’t he?

For a little while, he entertained the notion of being in a relationship with Sengoku. It didn’t felt like it would change considerably.

It was silly. Sengoku was hell bent on girls and Saeki, well. He wasn’t so sure about it. It felt kind of like the kinship he had with Icchan. There was no real romantic attraction, only the normal joy of being in  the same space. And it felt nice.

 

* * *

 

 Sengoku’s sister knocked on his room. "Kiyosumin, are you still angry? Saeki is going you know.”

“Let him.”, Sengoku grunted, turning his back to his sister. “I don’t care.”

Saeki felt his heart drop a little bit. He was standing right next to the door, and Sengoku’s sister shot him a look of pity. “You’re going to regret it if you stay so stubborn, Kiyosumin.”, his sister said in an attempt to get him out of his hole. The lack of reaction made her almost go in and drag her brother out to apologize, but Saeki kept her. He needed some time alone, and while Saeki was hurt, he also cared about Sengoku and decided to let him be.

When Sengoku heard the two pairs of footsteps descending, he knew he made a mistake.

Neither of them sent a message that evening.


	5. Party crasher

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Guys, I really gotta pee."

School had yet again started, and the autumn weather made Saeki long for the next summer. He was teaching Amane vice-captain duties, taking extracurricular for his math troubles and had to attend the student council more than once a week, because the president was struck by long term sickness. Entertaining the potential Rokkaku recruits was also taking a toll on his mind.

Combined with the pressure to keep his grades up, he got tired. This tiredness took hold of him when he came home and after dinner, he usually collapsed on the bed, giving his body the much needed rest. It had already been a month since he last talked to Sengoku, but sometimes when he went to sleep, he couldn’t shake him off his mind. Glancing over at his phone, he had gotten used to the empty inbox for that day and almost let it be for what it was. For once, he started missing their conversations. It only nagged him a bit, a few weeks after the incident, but now the emptiness was growing, a feeling Saeki didn’t comprehend. He had his teammates, classmates and family that were more than enough a chore for his daily need of social interaction. But the things he shared with Sengoku were almost intimate.

Brushing the weird thought out of his head, he checked one last time to confirm his suspicions.

No message.

Plugging the charger in, he turned around and closed his eyes. While the fault of their fallout lay on Sengoku’s side, Saeki couldn’t help but wonder if he was responsible. He didn’t even know the reason why Sengoku got angry. Saeki thought that Sengoku needed some time for himself, that he was angry and irritated because he had yet again managed to lose a potential lover and that his eyes got destroyed that day. But those were only partly Saeki’s fault. The eye thing was completely self induced because of his stupidity.

Saeki didn’t understand why he was suddenly being so careful around his friend. He tried to imagine the last time he had a fight with one of his friends, Kurobane. That same evening, he stood on Bane’s porch and was playing with Ricky and Jake, while his Bane was teaching him about puppy language.

Sengoku’s home was in Tokyo, so there was no way he could just show up on his porch with a bouquet of flowers and call it a truce.

When did friendships become so complicated.

* * *

 

Sengoku did not share the same feelings Saeki had. Due to a lucky stroke, he managed to get a date (a solo one!) with a cute girl that he met at a bowling alley. It was worth the amount of insults he got thrown at his head for ditching the game he had with his team. He found out that the feeling was mutual, and got himself a girlfriend after a solid week.

“Kiyosumin, why don’t you bring her over~”, his mother cooed at the sight of her son trying to hide his giddiness texting with his lover.

“Not yet mom, that’s rushing it.”, Sengoku replied. He was trying his hardest to contain all his feelings inside at max three emoticons. Anymore and she might get weirded out.

“Rushing? You tell me that after you walk in and say you’re dating this girl you’ve known for one week.”

“It was a good week. Soy sauce.”

“And no manners either. I’m glad you’re off the street, but are you really sure it’s love? Not one of your flings?”, Sengoku’s mother asked, shoving the soy sauce across the table. He caught it and tried to open the cap with his thumb, while still texting his girlfriend.

“And put that phone down!”, she said, getting flooded with a variety of “Wait mom” or “One more text”.

“It’s true love!”, Sengoku replied.

“What’s her dad’s job?”

“That is not important in the quest for true love!”

Sengoku’s mother was preparing for the headache that would follow in the coming month. “Should I mark this day?”, she suggested, taking the calendar and a pen. Every two months, at least one day was marked with a bright red heart. And for every heart, there was also a black broken heart a few weeks later.

“I don’t care what you do, I know that it’s real for this time.”, Sengoku said, rolling on his back.

“Your goal to have an uneven amount of red marks seems to be quite the pipe dream.”, His mother said. “What’s her name?”

“Chie.”

“First name basis already?”

She wrote down the kanji she assumed it would be, and circled it with a loosely drawn heart.

“Kiyosumin, why don’t you use your fancy math to predict where I should use the black marker.”

Sengoku ignored the jabbing of his mother. It’s true that he had a lot of flings along the time, but if he kept going, he would eventually meet the one. The one he was destined to be with, with whom he would have to share faith. And right now, that girl was the one. He would prove it.

“By the way, when will Saeki come over again?”, Sengoku’s mother asked abrupt. She assumed he was busy with school, but after the incident, Sengoku shut up immediately when he was brought up. “He was such a nice fellow, if only your sister was a few years younger.”

Saeki? Oh, Saeki! Sengoku felt a blush creeping up on his cheek. He completely forgot about him.

“You guys still talk, do you? I hope you didn’t let that silly banter between me and your father get to you.”

“O-of course we do. I just didn’t think it was worth mentioning.”

Sengoku was cornered. He didn’t bother sending a message after his contemplating, and he was trying his best to not start contemplating it now either. Saeki hadn’t send him any messages, but none of it struck him as eccentric. Saeki was simply busy now, wasn’t he? And surely he knew that Sengoku wasn’t holding any grudges.

Past is past. He had to focus on the cute girl whose messages had just arrived.

“You know, his birthday is in two days. You got him any presents?”

Sengoku choked on his drink. “W-what!?”

“It’s a Friday, so if you want to, I can drop you off for the weekend. Wouldn’t it be fun, enjoying the birthday with your sole friend?”

“I don’t think he’d like it if I showed up at his birthday party unannounced.”, Sengoku replied. He was so caught up, that he managed to forget Saeki’s birthday. And wouldn’t it be very awkward to walk in after not having talked to him in a while?

“Dear, that’s an amazing idea.”, his father said, walking downstairs.

 

* * *

 

And that’s how Sengoku ended up with a bouquet of flowers, on Saeki’s porch, overwhelmed by the cheers of Rokkaku’s team from the living room and with his parents wishing him good luck.

Via Dan’s network, they got to know that the party was held at Saeki’s house, and that the entire team would go over so they could have a movie evening. His parents decided that it would be a wonderful surprise for Saeki if they dropped their son at the house, granted they had the permission of Saeki’s parents. Not only did they agree, but they would go on a movie date on their own, trusting their son and his friends to not destroy the house.

“Happy birthday to you~ Happy birthday to you~ Happy birthday to Sae-san~”

The noises inside had welled up to a birthday song. Would it be really pathetic if he turned around and begged his parents to take him back to Tokyo? He decided to wait until they were done singing.

“I can’t believe you’re already three years older than I am.”, Aoi sighed.

“Don’t worry Kentarou! You’re still the captain, while he is a puny vice-captain!”, Bane cheered, grabbing the child’s shoulder.

“You say it like that, but he was still chosen over you as vice-captain no ne~”, Itsuki snorted.

“Uh, you weren’t chosen either! So you don’t have any room to talk to me like that.”, Bane retaliated.

“But Icchan didn’t want to be vice-captain. You wanted to be vice-captain.”, Aoi defended. Bane felt his muscles twitch but was interrupted by Shudo.

“Anyways, it’s Sae’s birthday today, so uh- Yay, Sae! How do you feel?”, Shudo said, in attempt to change the subject.

Saeki blinked. He was used to being in the spotlight, but having all the eyes cast on him and being asked a vague question was quite unnerving.

"I feel older?"

“Yay!?”

“Ah c’mon guys, let’s just open the presents instead of dawdling about like some shellless-“

A soft knock came from the door.

“You expecting somebody?”, Amane said, holding Shudo’s collar in an attempt to stop him from barking at the door.

“Maybe it’s the delivery man?”, Saeki said, as he waltzed between his team towards the door.

“Deliverer of what?”, Ryou mumbled, before summoning his phone.

Saeki opened the door and was met by a familiar swab of orange hair popping up from behind a bunch of flowers. The two curls were thrown back and the man didn’t seem to have noticed Saeki’s appearance.

“Sengoku?”

He jerked back in surprise. “Uh-h, hi Saeki! It’s been quite some time, hasn’t it? Did you have a lot of work, or school- oh wait no, tennis of course!”

“We can discuss that later, come inside first.”, Saeki smiled.

Sengoku felt his cheeks growing hotter at the embarrassment that was to follow.

“Oh, if it isn’t Sengoku! Party crashing?”, Bane said, admiring the familiar orange hairdo.

“Arrived fashionably late I see.”, Ryou murmured.

“The more the better!”, Shudo yelled, having broken loose from Amane’s grasp. He was now running around, inspecting Sengoku for anything hostile like a guardian dog.

“I’m glad you came Sengoku, though it was quite unexpected.”, Saeki said.

Sengoku could not tell him that it was not his idea at all, but his parents' who felt he needed to socialize more with non-tennis friends. Which failed.

“These flowers are... for you.”, Sengoku said, thrusting the bouquet towards Saeki. It was definitely a unique gift. So unique that everyone else felt like commenting on it.

“Red roses? That’s so...”

 “Gay.”, Ryou said.

“He rose to the occasion. Pf.”

“Well if you close your eyes a bit they’re you know. Pretty manly. Like the colour of blood and the thorny things that can nastily cut you.”

Saeki did his best to retain the stone faced smile, despite small drops of sweat forming on his forehead. Sengoku couldn’t be that dense, could he?

“I’ll get a vase.”, he said, quickly snatching the bouquet from his hands and running towards the kitchen.

“I didn’t knew Sae could be that flustered.”, Aoi said, stretching himself over the table, reaching with the tips of his finger for the plate that housed the cake. Itsuki pulled it closer to him and sighed: “Sengoku, you could have waited until tomorrow if this was your intention.”

“Maybe he didn’t choose the flowers himself. That would be pretty mean.”, Aoi suggested.

Sengoku would have loved to admit that he had no birthday gift at all, and that his dad took the liberty of choosing the flowers, but he was surrounded by Saeki’s friends, all of them, except the ladyboy and the captain, being taller and more muscular than him. He was not going to start offending them.

“The lucky item for his birthday was a bouquet of roses~ I am only wishing him good fortune through my gifts.”, Sengoku said.

“So if his lucky item for today was a toothbrush, would you have given him a toothbrush?”

“I would’ve given him a bouquet of toothbrushes.”, Sengoku said confidently.

“You’re pretty shitty at gifts.”, Ryou said.

“Let’s keep the pleasantries until Saeki opens all our presents, no ne~”

In the kitchen, Saeki stuffed the bouquet in the bucket underneath the sink, which had been leaking the past days. It would suffice for now. Returning to the “party”, he coughed a bit to break the uncomfortable silence that had formed.

“So uh, we were talking about presents?”, he laughed.

“Me first!”, Aoi said.

After they spent a good time unpacking and commenting on the gifts, half of the table was filled with eyedrops, a scarf, a 24 pack of soda, cologne, and an oyster knife. Actually, two oyster knives.

“It was a sale.”, Ryou had said.

Nonetheless, Saeki thanked his friends for the wonderful, non-permanent goods he received. Even though at least half of Shudo’s gift had disappeared already in the stomachs of his teammates, and Sengoku.

“Can we have cake now?”, Amane asked. He and Aoi had been viciously battling for dominance on who could eye the cake the strongest. This turned into a battle for the last slice of pie, as Shudo was gone to empty his bladder, and hadn’t claimed his piece yet. Bane and Itsuki were arguing for both sides “Davide is big and should be allowed to claim Shudo’s piece” and “Kentarou is still growing no ne~” with Ryou smuggling small pieces of others’ cake.

Saeki and Sengoku sat opposite each other, caught in their own universe.

“I really appreciate you being here Sengoku.”, Saeki said. “I thought you were still mad about that day. Ah, have your eyes healed?”

“Yeah. I uh-h, really like being here as well. It’s kind of interesting to see how different a team is off court.”

Yamabuki didn’t go on outings very often. This was because their grade trips didn’t align, and because Akutsu dismissed any invitation to something that wasn’t related to punching old men in the face. They also didn’t have an extracurricular hang-out spot or local event, like Chiba had with the sea.

“I don’t think we’re that different off court. At least, it doesn’t seem that way to me.”, Saeki said, dodging the knife thrown by Ryou that was definitely meant for Shudo.

“Hm, I guess you all look more intimidating and scary on the court.”, Sengoku said, as his eyes trailed off Saeki’s face towards the team. Shudo was viciously wrestling Amane to retrieve his share of the cake. “Taking this piece from Shudo is like a piece of cake. Pff.”

“Hey guys, let’s not kill each other and watch a movie.”, Saeki suggested, drawing attention to himself by clapping softly.

“I’m taking the big one!”, Shudo yelled, as he escaped Amane’s grasp to dive for the couch. It was a small family couch, with two singles lining them.

“He-hey, that’s not fair!”, Aoi mustered out, but he was cut off by the galloping sound of footsteps.

“Don’t squeeze yourself in here!”, Ryou yelled, trying to push a stubborn Shudo off the arm rest. They had both lost the privilege of the large couch, and while Ryou was definitely the first one who claimed the solo spot, Shudo decided he would duel for it by wiggling his butt between Ryou and the armrest. In their struggle, Saeki was contemplating the movies.

“So, what kind of movie would be okay?”, Saeki asked. Getting the majority to agree was easier, rather than shoving Titanic down his teammates' throats once again.

“I got a copy of Deep Sea Horror 2 on my phone.” Ryou said. Him and Shudo came to some sort of truce where Ryou was sitting snug as a kitten on Shudo’s lap. Which was very uncomfortable for Shudo in many ways.

“Doesn’t that one have, you know...female bodies in it?”, Bane asked. He was cautious, as they still had Icchan and Aoi, resident crybabies and innocence (at least that’s what Bane thought) personified.

“It has cute girls!?

Aoi jumped from the floor, grabbing the big bag of popcorn.

“I don’t think it’s wise to expose Aoi to female nudity yet.”, Icchan said bluntly. He was reigning like a master on his solo couch.

“Then, what about Hansel and Gretel remastered?”, Ryou asked. “It has no nudity, I think.”

“That sounds super lame Ryou-“

Shudo was silenced by an elbow poke.

After they bickered for a bit, they decided to choose one of Ryou’s late night movies, the ones he promised had no nudity, excessive violence, child abuse, smoking or anything going past a kiss. Bane and Davide were squishing Aoi from the sides on the floor, claiming that they had to protect the little kid if anything too scary came up. Which arguably meant, forcing his eyes open every time the monster came or stealing his pillow when the music started getting tense.

This left Saeki and Sengoku alone on the big couch. Sengoku had gone to tons of horror movies with girls, so while a jump scare could get him at times, he didn’t show the major fear Shudo and Aoi seemed to have. He was also positive that the two giants in front of him were pretty immune to the action, though he saw them flinch a few times when the murderer was tearing the frat boys apart. From the corner of his eye, he saw no movement from Itsuki. He had probably fainted from shock ten minutes into the movie.

He was more intrigued by his neighbour. Saeki was watching the movie intently, but didn’t show any strain on his face or body. He was wearing a very neutral expression.

Keeping his eyes on the movie, he felt the stress seep away in the cushions. It was hard trying to be a part of the group, but now that no one was trying to make conversation with him, he could enjoy the movie.

Saeki was not concentrated on the movie, but he wasn’t going to let that show. Occasionally he glanced over at Sengoku, a little worried that he stood out like a sore thumb along his teammates. He was glad that he seemed a bit relaxed.

At one point, their gazes met. The quickly averted their eyes and found something else to stare at for a while, but a light touch on his shoulder made Sengoku look back.

Saeki had put his hand on Sengoku’s shoulder, very softly as to not startle him too much or draw attention.

“Are you okay?”, he mouthed.

Sengoku  nodded. Saeki was worrying about him, and he found it a bit mysterious. All their meetings had ended up being awkward and embarrassing for both of them, but in the end, they still got along so well in a way that neither of them understood. It was a really nice feeling.

Saeki pulled his hand back to his lap and continued watching, as did Sengoku. He felt himself missing the warmth of the former, just a tiny little bit.

“No, Bane, I’m afraid of chainsaws, give my pillow back please!”

“Kentarou, take it like a man! Real men aren’t afraid of chainsaws!”

“Bane, actually I’m afraid, give me that pillow.”

“Davide, you too!?”

“Gu-guys, even Ryou has completely frozen over.”

“I’m not frozen over, this is the best part.”

“Lalalala I’m not looking or listening.”

“Kentarou! No covering ears!”

It was getting hectic on the show floor. The finale of the movie meant a lot of blood and gore obviously, and there was no Itsuki to prevent it from happening. A good deal of screaming later, they eventually pried their sweaty selves off the floor.

“Oh, it’s dark outside no ne~ I really should get going.”, Itsuki said, looking at his watch. Looking up, he saw the terrified faces of his teammates.

“You guys didn’t watch anything too violent, did you?”

“Icchan, Bane and Davide were bullying me!”, Aoi said, grasping for his hem.

A rowdy discussion started, consisting of Itsuki versus the world on why Aoi should not have been allowed to watch a movie like that.

“Sae, what do you think.”

“Let’s hear the birthday boy’s opinion this!”

Saeki laughed nervously at the mention of his name. “Kentarou will have to grow up one time.”

“Sae, watching horror movies is not the best way no ne~”

Sengoku looked on. They really looked like a family after all. He was a little bit envious that his team wasn’t as close as they were, or at least, less dysfunctional. It’s not like you really needed friendship in tennis, but it sure didn’t hurt to have some amiable relations while playing it.

“Sengoku, what do you think?”, Saeki suddenly asked, pulling Sengoku into the conversation.

“Me?”

“Yeah, you’re an outsider and not influenced by Kentarou’s personality. Do you think it’s responsible to let him watch horror movies?"

The atmosphere was incredibly dangerous right now. Six pairs of eyes were staring him down, the other pair was currently on the toilet. Again.

“I don’t think he’ll be traumatized by them.”, Sengoku said.

A few of them looked at him and nodded in unison.

“Here you go Icchan. As long as Kentarou won’t get bad dreams, it’ll be alright.”

“I am already having nightmares Bane!”

“You’ll get over them.”

One by one, they said their goodbyes to Saeki and left his house. Shudo was too afraid to walk to the station himself, so he had Bane and Amane accompany him, while Aoi got picked up by his older brothers. Ryou and Itsuki disappeared into the soft autumn night.

The only one left was Sengoku. Who was a bit pissed that his parents weren’t answering his call.

“I’m sure they’ll come soon Sengoku. It’s only ten’ o clock after all.”, Saeki reassured him.

Taking the train to Tokyo would cost a lot of money Sengoku didn’t have, and his parents were the only trustworthy transport around at the moment. And they still didn’t answer. After the 10th time.

Saeki had gone upstairs to fetch his phone, and left Sengoku downstairs, contemplating his life once more. Being the good houseguest he pretended to be, he rounded up some of the cans that lay strewn around the table, and would throw them away in the kitchen.

“Where’s the trash bin...”

The Saeki family had a very neat house, unlike Sengoku’s. Things were lined up perfectly, and every hook on the tool rack had some kind of culinary instrument, used or not. The floor was shiny, and Sengoku suspected that it may have been cleaned up because of the party, but he had a hard time imagining the house being untidy in its natural state.

He started rummaging through the lower cabinets. Maybe they had a small trashcan that opened when you opened the door via some sort of pulley system. Or one of those creepy pulverisers in the sink, the one a girl accidentally stuck her hand in in the movie. When he opened the door beneath the sink, he saw his beautiful bouquet stowed away in the most unflattering vase he had ever seen.

“Oh, Sengoku, it’s not what it looks like.”, Saeki said, having returned from his room.

“My feelings. They’re hurt you know.”, Sengoku joked.

“The vases are probably in garden shed. I hope you don’t mind?”, Saeki grinned.

“At least it's not the toilet.”, Sengoku replied.

Saeki walked towards the bunch of roses and put them in the sink. “This seems a bit more flattering don’t you think? Was it your mother or your father that chose them?”

Sengoku sighed. It was impossible  for Saeki to believe that Sengoku would have chosen such extravagant flowers for his birthday.

“Dad.”

"He does seem like that type of man.”, Saeki said. “Look, they don’t even have thorns. He has a careful eye.”

“That kind of sounds like you’re implying I’m not a careful guy.”

“Not like that, but your father really looks at the details.

Sengoku leaned on the kitchen counter.

“Though I do believe my teammates may have gotten the wrong idea about us.”

Sengoku lamented the horrible choice of letting his parents get an appropriate present. And he himself accepting it. Not like he had any choice, since they didn’t accept no’s. They were stubborn folks.

“It’s okay. As long as womankind still knows my preference, I will persevere.”, Sengoku whistled.

Buzzing.

Sengoku flipped his phone out at the speed of light. “Took you long enough to answer my calls, mum!”, he yelled into the receiver. “Huh, ah, wait! No! No I thought you were my mom! No don’t take it bad sweetie, I love my mom but uh-“

Saeki was watching the situation develop in astonishment.

“No, I like you the most of course~ Noo, I love you way more.”

Sengoku got himself a girlfriend? How interesting.

“You hang up. No, you hang up~ Okay we’ll do it at 1, 2, 3~ Yes!”

Sengoku closed his phone and smiled. The feeling of love was amazing.

“So that girl was the reason you forgot me for a month?”, Saeki said.

“Pretty much! She’s such a cutie, soft and totally my type.”, Sengoku replied.

“Hm.”, Saeki hummed as he stepped towards Sengoku. “How far have you gone?”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“You know,” Saeki awkwardly came closer “did you guys already, do stuff.”

“I’ve done first base, if that’s what you mean.”, Sengoku said confidently.

Saeki was looking at him, but aside from his usual stare, he looked... quite excited.

“And how was it?”

“It was soft. Although her nails were pretty sharp.”

Sengoku had finally found something he was better at than Saeki. And while he did not want to brag about his accomplishments, he felt a bit proud.

“Nails? Do you guys have a special relation?”, Saeki asked. He tried to imagine scenarios where kissing involved nails, but all of them turned out too lewd to imagine Sengoku in.

“She can be pretty clingy, and sometimes it hurts, but the more it hurts, the more love she shows me.”, Sengoku said. He still had some nail marks on the inside of his hand, but he wasn’t going to tell his newfound girlfriend how to file her nails.

“I agree. And I wish you guys the best. She must be really special if you managed to forget messaging me about your Nadi astrology.”, Saeki said.

“Ah, please drop it already. By the way Sae, have you still not found anyone?”

“It’s been a month since that unfortunate date. That would be rushing it, don’t you think?”

Sengoku blinked.

“Not like you were rushing, but I need some recovery time, if you know what I mean.”

“Don’t worry, I understand that you have a different recharge time for love~ But there still have to be some ladies left that want you, if you’re going to take so long.”, Sengoku said.

“Oh I’m sure there’ll be some.”, Saeki replied.

That was the Saeki Sengoku had missed. His direct statements, followed by a stare that drifted throughout the room didn’t feel as strange or unusual anymore.

“Sae, hey, can you tell me your secret of that stare thing you’re doing?”, Sengoku asked.  “Like, the way you’re looking at someone, but it also looks like you aren’t, you feel?”

“Huh? What do you mean?”, Saeki asked. In a sense, it was true that Saeki himself was not aware off his stare, only the funny reactions he got.

“The thing when you look straight at someone and like, all the girls swoon and all the guys are confused. That stare.”

“Even if I knew what you were talking about, I don’t think it’s wise if you were going to make other girls swoon over you.”

“Do I really have that bad of an image, Sae?  Of course I only want to use it to make my girlfriend swoon. I want to pamper her with everything I got~”, Sengoku said with a wink.

“Isn’t she lucky~”, Saeki said, mimicking Sengoku’s tone.

Sharing some drinks, they made some remarks about the time and decided to go back to the living room. Sengoku’s parents arrived surprisingly fast, and after some greetings and congratulations, they bid farewell, taking their precious son with him. The jokes of his family didn’t reach Sengoku, as he drifted asleep during their short trip.


	6. A golden star

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "How gay."

A week later, Saeki received a strange message.

“Yo, Sae, I won two tickets to the Bay line amusement park. I was wondering if you’d like to come with me.”

Saeki sighed. Sengoku always had the worst timing.

“Studying for midterms.”, Saeki replied.

“Please, Sae~ Don’t be like my girlfriend.”

“Your girlfriend is being smart. And you should be as well.”

From what he grasped from the following barrage of texts, Sengoku had won two day tickets for the amusement park, but his girlfriend refused to go with him. It would have been a waste if he threw them away, and the fact that there was a raffle going on at the park itself, was definitely not the reason that Sengoku wanted to go there. But the “real” reason that he stated made Saeki consider going.

“Take it as a late birthday gift, a payback for the horrible date back then, a refreshment during the midterm period and an apology gift for the way I treated you.”

“No. My parents will have my head if I take a day off now.”

“Please~”

Saeki could envision Sengoku’s big, questioning eyes begging for his attention. He decided to let Sengoku hang for a while, just to gauge his seriousness.

“No girls this time. I swear.”

An interesting addition that didn’t sway Saeki. He tapped his desk with the rubber part of his pencil. The screen on his phone lighted up a few more times, but he paid no mind to it, preferring to focus on the literature analysis in front of him. It was the original version of some French memoir, but Saeki understood little that would enable him to use it for his endterm project. Managing to completely translate a paragraph, he slammed the book shut, thinking about other potential courses he could review.  Perhaps it was better if he got some beverage first, as his room felt quite dry and his head heavy.

Nothing beat a glass of fresh water. Stationed at his desk, he decided to look at his inbox for only a little bit.

“I’ll buy you an ice cream.”

“And drinks.”

“If I win anything in the raffle, you can have half of it, and knowing my luck, that’s a lot!”

“It’s just that my sister will have to accompany me if I don’t find anyone.”

“And it’s very close to your home so you can just sneak away.”

“Are you ignoring me, Sae.”

“That’s not nice.”

“Sunday at the Bay line entrance, 12:00?”

Saeki turned his phone facedown and took out his geography book. Memorizing trivial names and locations was easy for him, so he probably wouldn’t take long on it. From the top of his head, he could already list every city alphabetically in the Chiba prefecture, which was basic knowledge he admitted, and was now locating every canal or river that ran through Chiba. Once in a while his phone would buzz in protest, and Saeki would shove it a little closer to his window, blocking out the distractions.

Calling it a day, he put his books away and took a fresh shirt out of his drawer. They were arranged based on the kind of material they were made from, which baffled his mother at times. He wanted to make sure the clothes felt as good as possible. Looking back at the shiny metallic case of his phone, he thought about the possible consequences. For a fact, he knew that only his sister would be at home Sunday, and that she wouldn’t bother tattling on the friendly adventures of her little brother.

Sengoku was having a horrible influence on him.

* * *

 

Sengoku was impatiently pacing back and forth. Around him, an abundance of tag teams had formed, and they were discussing strategies and war plans to win the raffle. Sengoku got lucky when he won two tickets that would allow him to participate as a junior tag team among adults, but he encountered problems when: 1. His girlfriend insisted that she could not meet him that day, like she had been saying for the entire week, and 2. He had already said that he would not participate in the tennis activities that week, and if he asked Muromachi, everyone would blame him for slacking.

Added was the fact that his sister was twenty-one, and they would definitely be disqualified for the big prize for cheating. Lately, Saeki had been his first to go to person when he needed a wingman or had a particular problem concerning fortune, love advice or even fashion advice. He was a really dependable guy. Normally, Sengoku wouldn’t even consider bothering most people multiple times, but when he saw Saeki’s name lit upon the screen, he felt like he could easily talk his worries away. He was a soothing guy.

But now he had two participation jerseys, and no second person. It was ten minutes before 12:00, and while the actual event wouldn’t start before 13:00, there would be a screening and he doubted they’d get an advantageous start if Saeki decided to arrive any later.

The only reason Sengoku put so much faith in him actually showing up was because of the last short message Saeki had sent him.

“I see.”

In the past, Sengoku would have thought it was another polite way of Saeki telling that he was not interested in the conversation. But now, it sounded like a consideration, that might be a vague yes. He really hoped that his intuition on Saeki’s mind was right.

When he saw the dressed figure appear a few moments later, he silently thanked him.

“Sae, no time to explain this, but put this jersey on.”, Sengoku said, pushing the bright red cloth in Saeki’s face.

“Oh okay.”, Saeki said, touching the cheap fabric. “It’s a bit too small though.”, he said, adjusting his sleeves. “Why am I wearing this again?”

“Don’t worry, I got a backpack, just dump your vest in here.”, Sengoku said. “So uh, you’re kind of my partner for this event here.”, he said, pointing at the giant banner that read “Tag Team Prize Event”.

“How nice.”, Saeki said. “I kind of have semi fashionable clothes on, so I hope it won’t get too rowdy?”

“I don’t know the details, but they promised no life threatening situations, and you don’t have to be athletic to participate.”, Sengoku explained. He looked up from the brochure. “Saeki, you look awfully calm.”

“Do I?”

“Yeah, it looks like you don’t understand the situation. Or are not taking it seriously.”, Sengoku said, inching closer until he was right in front of Saeki's face.

Saeki was surprised by how direct Sengoku had become. Was this the result of him being committed? He had to admit he liked this little change.

“It can’t be helped, just rely on my luck and we’ll be alright~”, Sengoku assured. “The big prize is a gift card to a department store. Let’s line up.”

Between the participants and the families that decided November weather wouldn’t be too much of a hurdle to the enjoyment of their kids, the tag team was patiently awaiting their turn.

“These bracelets are pretty stylish, don’t you think?”, Saeki said, turning the piece of leather around his wrist. His initials were engraved, and while it didn’t look particularly sturdy, it had an adjustable strap.

“I think they’re friendship bracelets that you can buy dime a dozen in an antique store.”, Sengoku said, twiddling with it. Under their name, a bright 8 was displayed, their team number.

“In order to verify the participants from the guests, they made us wear these jerseys and the bracelets, but aside from them, I don’t think we’ll stand out that much.”, Sengoku said. “Oh Sae, here’s a map of the park. It might do good to memorize the important spots.

“I’ve been here when I was younger, so I think I will be able to find my way;.”, Saeki said, leaning behind Sengoku who was taking pictures of the wall with his phone.

“If you say so. You can never be too careful.”, Sengoku said.

“You’re putting quite some effort in this, for someone that relies on luck.”, Saeki remarked.

“Luck comes to those who invite it.”

Saeki chuckled. He began to suspect that Sengoku used his luck to hide his plain, hardworking observant persona.

“So, we have until 13:00 to just enjoy our time at the park, and then there will be an event. It doesn't look like it'll be very intensive.”, Saeki said.

“Most of the participants are couples, so I don’t think they would have made it too heavily based on the competition aspect.”, Sengoku observed. “Can’t have them hold any grudges towards each other.”

“So for once, you’re okay with showing everyone that we are the best couple?”

“You know what I mean.”

Sengoku gave Saeki a slight push. “By the way, it seems we will have to walk around a fair bit."

“I hope we don’t have to crawl around.”, Saeki said.

“If you happen to dirty your clothes, we can always buy more if we win.”

“Can’t argue against that logic.”

“Let’s grab a drink before we move o...”

Saeki looked at Sengoku. His brain had short-circuited by a pretty woman that walked past with her children. Saeki attempted to shake him out of his daze, but was met with silence. “Sengoku, you have a girlfriend.”

“Having a girlfriend doesn’t prohibit me from admiring the aesthetics of other women...”

As his eyes trailed off, so did Saeki. He wondered if Sengoku could ever be helped. Hearing the footsteps quicken behind him to catch up made Saeki smile. While his focus would linger everywhere, Saeki knew that Sengoku would always return like a boomerang. Sometimes in the neighbour’s garden, but at least he was trying.

They used their preparation time to walk one lap around the park. It consisted of a large lake, presumably cut off from the sea in the middle, with attractions lining the perimeter. Going counter clockwise, they discovered that the most important attractions would be the biggest. The haunted house, some rollercoasters, the Ferris wheel, a shooting arcade, a mirror labyrinth, the log ride and the tunnel of the band of zodia-

“Wait, there’s a tunnel dedicated to astrology!??”, Sengoku yelled out.

“Oh, it must be the new project they were talking about in the newspaper. I haven’t experienced it myself either.”, Saeki said, admiring the black matte globe building. “We only have ten minutes left, but I think this ride might be important and fun for later.”

“But, like. We’re going to do this, right? Promise?”, Sengoku asked Saeki.

“Of course! But we should really hurry back to the entrance now.”, Saeki replied.

Arriving at the location, they were met by a small group of participants. There must have been about 20 teams in total, most consisting of men and women around the twenties.

“Sengoku, don’t you think something’s off about this event?”, Saeki asked.

“What do you mean?”, Sengoku asked, biting on his tongue as he tried to find the straps of his backpack. This included bending his arm and neck at weird angles. Saeki took the strap and pushed it in Sengoku’s hand. “Oh thanks.”

“I guess it’s just me. Anyway, let’s line up and listen to what they have to say.”

A small tent distributed maps, a paper board and pencils to the participants. The rules were dished out rapidly and vague, so Sengoku and Saeki were left with many questions, time limits and the absence of the game administrators.

“So, we have to search for ten numbers in this entire park?”

“At least we know that they can only be found in attractions. And there aren’t that many.”

Across the park, there were golden stars placed with a number on them. The goal was to find out which attractions housed them, what number they housed, write it down on the official paper and then go to the Ferris wheel that stood out tall among the skyline. The only catch was that they had to enter each attraction as a couple, no solo entries were permitted. To make this easy for the guests, participants had priority access.

“Let’s hurry up.”

Sengoku noticed that while some couples were still discussing on what to do, a chunk of them had already disappeared to search seriously.

“I propose we run to the Ferris wheel and circle the park. That way , we start with the attractions that aren’t as busy yet and if we have combed out every single one thoroughly, we will end up right next to the goal.”

“You seem to have it all planned out Sengoku. Are you this thorough in your matches?”

Sengoku sighed. “Maybe.”

* * *

 

Sengoku’s mediocre, but more than nothing plan left the duo in front of the shooting arcade.

“So, we’re going to have to shoot things with these...chained guns?”, Sengoku said. The carriage was large enough for at least four people, but Sengoku was left in the backseat with a gun that was attached to the floor. Saeki took the front seat that had a mini turret.

“This thing can only turn 180 degrees.”, Saeki said as he turned the cheap plastic to its side.

The handlebars came down and Sengoku was forced in his seat, with the gun painfully low in his arms.

“Sae, please tell me you’re any good at this. I don’t think I’ll be able to do much with this thing.”

The chain was at perfect length for little children to shoot with, but Sengoku had trouble to get it above his upper arm.

“I’d like to think I  was quite good, but it’s been a long time.”, Saeki said. “Just cover the sides and we'll pass.”

The ride went a bit faster than they had expected. Saeki had the motion vision to keep up with the barrage of evil sea urchins in front of him, and even got a glimpse of the golden star and its number. But if he wasn’t fooling around the first half, he definitely wasn’t at the moment.

“Sengoku, to the left!”

“Wait, the chain has looped around my wrist!”

“Sengoku, we are being attacked by the deep sea creatures! Our lives are at stake!”, Saeki yelled.

“Sae, we already have the golden star, don’t you think you’re being a bit excessive?”, Sengoku asked, trying to get the chain loose.

“I am not losing!”, Saeki yelled, unleashing a barrage of invisible laser beams at the projector. Sengoku was trying to pick off the ones that got past Saeki’s crazy typhoon, but managed to cramp his leg. He was happy once the light of the exit reached him, and enjoyed the blood returning to his limbs.

“Well wasn’t that fun.”, Saeki said. It had indeed been a long time, but when he was still in kindergarten, he and his sister would compete. He always managed to beat her, but there were a few occasions were Saeki thought that his winning streak would have ended.

“You really like shooting things huh?”, Sengoku said, turning around to grab the zippers of his backpack. Saeki came over and helped him get the board and pen out of it.

“It was a beautiful five.”

“Noted.”

Sengoku and Saeki were already walking to their next attraction.

“Do you think a mirror labyrinth is the smartest place to put a gold star?”, Saeki asked. “Wouldn’t its image be reflected everywhere?”

“I guess we’ll see.”

“Hopefully.”

Lines of children and worried parents shot mean glares at Saeki and Sengoku as they were escorted to the front of the line by the staff. Not even their handsome faces could convince the guests that they really wouldn’t take long and that it wouldn’t make a huge difference for their waiting time. Once they entered the mirror maze, they discovered it was a lot different than they had anticipated.

“Bah!”

“Watch where you walk Sae.”, Sengoku said. His handsome friend had already managed to walk into every single wall, which was quite an accomplishment for a middle schooler. “I thought your vision was crazily good.”

“It’s not like I can’t see the cracks, it’s just that I get distracted a lo-Argh.”

“By what, your handsome reflection?”, Sengoku asked, searching for any sign of a golden star.

“Exactly.”, Saeki said. Sengoku rolled his eyes and sidestepped through the maze. He was long past the rebuttals he could have made, but he understood that the only way to deal with him if he was being so...Saeki...was to ignore him flat out. Not a single star to be seen. Sengoku tried to trace his way back but found it very much impossible when his friend was having trouble turning corners because of his god-shapen face.

“Sae, come here.”, Sengoku said.

“I’m trying.”

Deciding that he didn’t feel like leaving Saeki prey to the children’s attractions, he grabbed his hand and pulled him behind him. “Don’t let go, don’t wander off, and don’t get distracted. Just follow me.”, Sengoku said. “And look for stars, will you.”

“Okay, mom.”, Saeki smiled.

“I’m ditching you.”, Sengoku said as he dropped Saeki’s hand and took off in another direction.

“H-hey, aren’t we supposed to do this like a team?”, Saeki asked. “Sengoku!”

Saeki attempted to trace Sengoku’s footsteps but was met by the sharp corner of an angled wall. He stumbled forward a bit, and at that moment, the overseers of the attraction thought that they had seen enough of this kid’s pathetic attempt. A projector sprang on and shone light on the floor; Saeki closed his eyes and saw a bright pink arrow on the floor, overlapping his shoes and hands.

“This is embarrassing.”, he thought, as he looked upwards to imagine a group of men laughing about his failure.

“Sengoku! I found the gold star!”, Saeki yelled. From right behind the corner, Sengoku appeared, startling Saeki a bit. “Where?”

“You didn’t ditch me after all~”, Saeki said. Being met by silence made Saeki return to the current topic. “Up there.”

He pointed to the gold start that was stuck to the ceiling.

“Two.”

“Yeah I can read.”

“Just to confirm.”

“Let’s get out of here.”, Sengoku said, as they both adeptly and quickly made it to the end due to the pink arrows.

“I’m relieved to see all this daylight.”, Saeki said as he caught his breath. “What’s next?”

“The next big one is an outdoor rollercoaster.”, Sengoku said. “Between that one and here there’s also a carousel, but I don’t think they’re going to hide stars there.”

“Why don’t we do that one, just to be sure?”, Saeki asked.

“Look Sae.”, Sengoku said, nodding into the direction of the carousel. “If people got mad about us jumping in the front of a low populated mirror attraction, they’re going to be livid if we go ride that thing.”

“Okay.”

Saeki dragged Sengoku towards the carousel.

* * *

 

“I’m glad we didn’t have to ride the coaster to find the star, but I am a bit worried how we’ll find the next one.”

Both of them managed to find the stars on the carousel , that were sneakily hidden on the twisted brass poles. As all of them were a five, it was only logical to assume the attraction would only net them one usable number. The outdoor rollercoaster had its number hanging plainly between the rails, and Saeki’s exceptional vision was able to distinguish it from a distance, so they shaved off some time by skipping that.

Munching on a breadstick, Sengoku looked at the cheap haunted house that stood before them. It looked like a sunken wreck of a submarine, with a propped up diver suit indicating the height one should be to enter.

“It’sa walk-through -ttraction.”, Sengoku mumbled. “We cwan take ouw time.”

Saeki simply nodded. “Are you always like this when there are no girls around?”

“Whatddya mean?”, Sengoku asked, swallowing the last piece of bread.

“Nothing. Let’s hurry up.”

“What’s the hurry? Let’s just walk through it like normal.”, Sengoku said. “Unless...you are afraid~”, he teased.

“I’m not afraid of these sort of things.”, Saeki chuckled. “I’ve done this attraction a few times when I was younger so I know the tricks already. If you want to, we can rush it.”

Sengoku sighed and just went inside, Saeki trailing behind him.

“This doesn’t seem all too scary.”, Sengoku said. The first room had an aquarium and seaweed hanging from the ceiling. Some of it was torn by rowdy teenagers, and the floor had strategically placed puddles.

“Ah I forgot about those.”, Saeki said, hopping on the dry spots. “Now my soles are all dirty.”

“No stars here, let’ just move on.”

Walking past bloody props and creeking noises, neither Saeki or Sengoku flinched. They heard some screams coming from the room in front of them, but paid them no mind as they continued descending the stairs. Saeki tensed up.

“Hm? Childhood memories plaguing you again?”, Sengoku asked him, noticing the shift in his behaviour.

“I remember that I didn’t really like this part...”, Saeki said.

“Want to hold hands again?”, Sengoku joked, putting both of his hands in his jersey.

“I’ll manage.”, Saeki replied, inching down the narrow corridor up ahead.

“It’s pretty cramped.”, Sengoku said, stretching his arms laterally. “Even the ceiling is pretty low.”, Sengoku reached. He could touch it easily with his fingertips. Saeki followed the gesture by putting his entire palm on the ceiling, and he remembered the strange feeling he got whenever he walked through the corridor in the past.

“Ah, Sengoku, wai-“

A stick ran through the wall and poked Sengoku in the side. He jerked back against Saeki.

“What the hell was that!”, Sengoku yelled as he held his pelvic bone in surprise.

“They’re just foam sticks that trigger randomly, don’t worry they don’t hurt or anything.”

“I have a sensitive skin bro!”, Sengoku said. While Sengoku was careful to avoid the sticks, Saeki grew more nervous.

“So, have you seen any star yet, Sae?”

He really didn’t like being poked randomly from every direction. He was a bit ticklish, his only true weakness (that he would ever acknowledge of himself). He hoped Saeki didn’t notice the various yelps he let out, something he was honestly embarrassed of.

“Sae?”

He looked back to see Saeki slowly inch forward, taking all the hits from the sticks. He looked deeply focused on something.

“Earth to Sae?”

He startled Saeki and rustled him from his concentration. “No stars seen yet.”, Saeki said. In the darkness, his pale face was hidden.

“You sound a bit shaky, are y- Kya!”

The high pitched scream detracted Saeki from his momentarily fear. Another stick had struck Sengoku right on his elbow. A jolt had run up and down his body and he was swinging his limb around in order to appease the shock. Ignoring the other sticks, Sengoku ran forward. He didn’t like the room either. Both of them were relieved when they found two golden stars on the poles next to the masterpiece of the exhibition, a panorama that had blood running from the display glass and interesting animatronics tearing apart a human doll.

“Okay, we’re finished here, let’s get out of this place.”

And that was how two teenage boys were confronted with their lamest and darkest fears.

“I would like to clarify that I would have been way smoother if you were a girl.”, Sengoku said. “Not that I’m never not smooth, but let’s forget what happened in there for now.”

“Likewise.”

Trading out snacks, they took a small break from their adventuring.

“There are still four of them, but there are only two major attractions left before the Ferris wheel. They might put in some doubles again.”, Saeki observed. Sengoku looked over his shoulder.

“If you were worried about your soles, you probably won’t like the next set. That one’s a water attraction.”, Sengoku said as he pointed at the big log slide.

“I don’t really see how they can hide a star there.”, Saeki said. “It’s a very straightforward ride without many decorations.”

“I’m going to bet they’ll hide it on our seats or something.”, Sengoku said.

“No escaping it.”, Saeki said. “If we want to be safe, why don’t we do the tunnel first and run to the water attraction afterwards?”

* * *

 

“That was quite a ride.”, Saeki said. He could not express his disappointment any nicer.

The past quarter, they had floated slowly throughout a mediocre black tube, on a way too cramped raft that still dared to have signs to keep little children from putting their hands between the grinding gears of the invisible rails that drove the boat. They both went in with excitement, but this was soon proven false as the only real astronomical value the attraction held, were blue led lights and neon lights bended to the shape of a vague horoscope. Upon inspection, they could even see the cables leading to the electricity circuit.

Both of them were vocally protesting the ride, much to the anger of the other couples.

“It’s really strange how low budget this all looks. I bet they didn’t hire a real astronomer for this.”

“I’m more concerned that they aren’t showing the zodiac in the right order. And those little babies with wings and a bow are definitely not part of them! Why are they everywhere?”

Sometimes a loud “shoo” noise was thrown at them, but that did not stem their opinions.

“I’m starting to think they only cared about the atmosphere. There aren’t even asteroïds.”

“Gemini doesn’t mean romantically involvement with people. And neither do Sagittarius and Capricorn. So why are they all surrounded with hearts?”

When the ride was finished, couples exiting the ride gave them a stink eye, but Sengoku didn’t mind. He was splurging his money on the gift shop.

“Sengoku, are you finished yet?”, Saeki asked, a bit nervous by all the mean glares given by the customers.

“Still deciding on the charm.”, Sengoku said.

“We don’t have all day.”, Saeki said, rubbing his shoulder, where a formidable man had violently pushed him when he walked past.

“I got the most lucky one!”, Sengoku said as he suddenly sprang into Saeki’s view. “Look, this one has beans, and this one has rice, and they seem really durable.”

“I’m glad you got them, but won’t they get wet?”

“Don’t worry, my backpack is waterproof, I think.”

Both of them backtracked to the giant waterslide that ended halfway in the lake. The bridge it was built upon, splashed water on oblivious guests, although the water marks on the ground notified most. The duo engaged in small banter while they were waiting for their turn.

“So how wet do you estimate we’d get.”, Saeki asked.

“It should be okay if we close our jerseys.”, Sengoku assessed as they lined up.

“You are absolutely sure your backpack is waterproof right?”, Saeki asked as he dropped his phone in a side pocket.

“Yeah, don’t worry!”, Sengoku said. “Our hair might get a little wet though.”

“Don’t worry, the ladies love that.”, Saeki said. “I mean, that’s what they whisper behind my back.”

Sengoku and Saeki had a little stare battle, which was broken up as soon as they were forced to board the log.

“Oh look, the star is taped to the front. It’s a one.”

Sengoku tried to exit the log, but was forcefully pushed back by the staff. He sat behind Saeki and shrunk a bit so he could hide behind his taller back.

“Hey, are you trying to let me take the full brunt of this?”, Saeki protested.

“I’ll be very thankful~”

“Th-that’s not fair!”, Saeki splurted out as the log started moving downstairs. “You’re going to get payback!”

The log slid off the incline and slowed a bit around the horizontal midsection. Sengoku was grabbing onto Saeki’s shoulders, who was protecting his face with his hands.

“Sae, look, there’s a star there.”

Saeki let his guard down for a moment and looked at the star that was taped on the beams of the slide. “It’s a...”

“Two!”, they said in unison before they took off in the lake. Water splashed everywhere, and Sengoku could feel his thighs getting soaked, although most of his chest was spared by his human shield. The downpour was worse. Sengoku curled up and let it drop off his back, some of the droplets touching his warm neck with a frightengly cold touch.

Saeki was soaked to say the least. If it was possible to jump off the railings of the ride, he would’ve pushed Sengoku to his doom. The girls’ chatter in the background did not stop him from taking Sengoku aside and pushing him on the closest wall he could find, coincidentally, the side of a small establishment.

“W-wow, Sae you’re pretty strong aha.”, Sengoku awkwardly laughed. Saeki was staring down at him with a very, intimidating aura. “Don’t call me Sae.”

“Kojirou?”

Saeki looked confused for a moment, and Sengoku made use of the gap and ran for it.

“Come here Sengoku!”, Saeki yelled, chasing his friend. His clothes had gotten heavier and every step he made was accompanied by a splashing sound.

“Sae, don’t you think you can take your revenge after we’ve gotten our prize.”, Sengoku said, peeking from behind a tree. “Besides, you don’t want to make a scene, do you~”

“Don’t call me Sae.”

He was enraged that Sengoku knew him so well, but at the moment he really, really wanted to throw Sengoku in the river.

“Come here, and I’ll promise you that it will be quick.”, Saeki growled.

“Ooh, I’m so scared. Is this revenge for the balcony thing?”, Sengoku joked.  Saeki was silent. “Aw, c’mon, don’t stare at me like that. I come in peace.”, He said as he slowly stepped from behind the tree.

“I’m very harmless as you can see. Now let’s slowly move towards that very dry, sunny spot over there, and then walk to the Ferris wheel, where I figured out our last star is.”

Saeki didn’t say anything, but he dropped his shoulders, removing some of the threatening pose he had. Sengoku had a very idiotic expression on his face.

“That’s good. I’m coming closer to you, and I will gently guide you towards the path.”

Saeki didn’t seem as mad anymore, and Sengoku felt relieved. The only thing that mattered was getting the prize. And Sengoku knew he would be lucky, with a little help of Sae.

Sengoku approached him and Saeki looked at him. It was like he was talking to a convict. He didn’t knew if he was either being condescending, oblivious or comedic, but none of it really mattered. Revenge would be taken in due time.

“Aw, don’t look so angry. We have gone through a lot together now, so why don’t you take that frown and put it in your pocket! And we can go and get our prize!”

Saeki ignored Sengoku and started walking to the Ferris wheel.

“Hey, where are you going. I have the chart you know!”

Sengoku had accomplished his goal, but he wished Saeki didn’t hold grudges that much. It couldn’t be helped, Sae was still Sae, Sengoku thought as he followed Saeki.

* * *

 

“Sae, I think I can see Rokkaku from over here.”, Sengoku said enthusiastically as he motioned for Saeki to come over.

Sengoku’s predictions were right as always; the last star was found two minutes after the ride had started, underneath the seats. Saeki did not spot any other guests yet, so the least they could do was relax and wait until the ride was over to turn in their paper at the tent at the feet of the wheel.

“Man, you really are completely soaked.”, Sengoku said, observing The puddle that had formed at Saeki’s feet. The proprietor still let him in the cabin, but was sure to grunt disapprovingly with it.

“Still ignoring me?”, Sengoku asked, tapping Saeki on his shoulder. Saeki grabbed his wrist, and pushed him against the window.

“No escaping now.”, he said menacingly.

Even being vaguely intimidated, Sengoku felt the need to open his mouth. “Are you going to break the window and push me out?”

Saeki looked at him. Sengoku’s face radiated cheekiness. But he knew the perfect counter to wipe that look of his face.

“Strip.”

Sengoku blinked. “What?”

Saeki’s hands had already slipped the shoulders of his jersey of. “Give me your shirt.”

Sengoku jerked back, almost sucker punching Saeki in his stomach. “No way! Don’t touch me!”

“Look, my folks don’t know I’m here, every single part of my body is itching to get out of these horrible cold clothes, and you are the only one in possession of a somewhat dry shirt.”

“S-stop! You’re a guy! I’m a guy!”, Sengoku muttered.

“It’s not like I would have asked you if you were a girl!”, Saeki retaliated. “Besides, we’re both guys so it’s nothing weird.”

“I-I refuse! I-I also need something to wear. You still have your vest!”

“If you’re that concerned about it, you can have my shirt,-“, Saeki said “-that is also completely soaked!”

He started taking off his jersey and was in progress of removing his shirt. Sengoku noticed it clung very well to his body.

“Don’t man, everyone can see us!”, Sengoku yelled in a panic, rummaging through his backpack to retrieve Saeki’s vest.

“We’re almost at the top, the only one that can see us are you and me!”, Saeki yelled back. Being shirtless was fun when he went to the beach, but now they were high up in the sky, where the ventilation was not optimal and he felt the hairs stand up on every inch of his upper body.

“Here take this.”, Sengoku said as he threw the light vest to Saeki.

“This fabric is too thin.”, Saeki whined. “I can’t wear only this, this vest is meant to be layered with!”

“Well sorry, mister I-Have-To-Layer-My-Clothes-Even-If-I’m-Freezing-My-Balls-Of. Didn’t your mother ever tell you that one layer clothes are the most effective at isolating yourself with!”

Saeki looked at Sengoku. He was...awfully worked up about the situation wasn’t he. He was completely flustered and was constantly darting his eyes over the room, to avoid his gaze.

“Are you...embarassed?”, Saeki asked. Sengoku shot him a look, but quickly averted his eyes. “Even though no one can see us here?”

Sengoku involuntarily hid his hot cheeks. He was really bothered by Saeki’s figure, but he couldn’t exactly describe why or how. His heart had started pounding faster, and his concentration was thrown completely off the chart.

“O-of course I’m not, you idiot.”, he said, looking at the horizon.

“Then why aren’t you looking at me?”, Saeki asked.

Sengoku threw a sideward glance at Saeki, and quickly wished he hadn’t. For the quick second, he felt the stare pierce through him, to his core in a way he really didn’t want to.

“I’m still not giving you my shirt, if that’s what you’re after.”, Sengoku said stubbornly.

“It’s okay. We still have a lot of time~”, Saeki said, sitting next to him. Sengoku could smell his..cologne? It was really nice, but it made him really uncomfortable. It took barely ten seconds for Sengoku to give in.

“Okay, I’m giving you my shirt, just, don’t look over here and don’t do anything irritating!”, Sengoku yelled.

Saeki smiled.

Throwing his half-wet jersey on the seat, Saeki got a good look at his arm muscles. “That boxing really helped you, didn’t it?”

It took Sengoku a few moments to process what he had said. “Eyes on the window!”

Saeki felt good teasing him once in a while. In the end, he would always get his way with Sengoku.

So this is how it felt, being stared at. At least Sengoku had the mercy to do it unnoticed, without the object of his affections being aware of it. Knowing that he was being stared at, despite all denials by the perpetrator was far worse. He felt his stomach knot in uncanny ways.

Saeki was admiring Sengoku’s well build back. If he wanted to make it even more defined, he should invite him to go swimming, but knowing his reaction to half naked guys was... this bad, perhaps he shouldn’t. He looked at the cloth that got thrown into his hands. The back was a bit sweaty, but the front was perfectly fine.

“Thank you. I appreciate this.”

“Just throw me your shirt and don’t talk.”

Saeki did as was requested of him and wringed his shirt a bit before giving it to Sengoku. The dry cloth of Sengoku’s shirt felt really pleasant, and while he was a bit smaller than him, it wasn’t as tight as the rags he wore earlier.

Sengoku shivered at the contact of the damp shirt. It was a tad bigger, but it clung a lot more to his skin, mimicking the texture of his training jersey if he had finished an especially hard training.

“Don’t look so content with my dry shirt, you...”

“Me...?”

“You know what. I’m going to pretend this never happened. I will walk outside, give this paper, we will get our coupon and then we will both go our merry ways~”

Sengoku was completely zen. He wasn’t going to let some mere guy provoke him. He prided himself on not being able to be provoked, but he was going through a hellish time now. And all because of his good friend.

Saeki simply smiled, and looked down the window. It was a matter of a minute or two before they landed. “Look, the next couple has arrived. I think we have the biggest lead.”

Sengoku shuffled towards Saeki’s side on the opposite couch. “Ah, you see, I predicted it right~ We win!”

“I think I can see their movements in the cabin from up here. They might have found the star already!”, Saeki said as he stood up.

“Don’t wobble the cabin. Besides, they have to complete a full circle before they’re allowed to finish. We have this in the bag~”

“No, Sengoku, look! They’re exiting the cabin again!”, Saeki said as he pressed his face against the window.

At the feet of the Ferris wheel, the couple had quickly found the stars after entering. They decided it wasn’t worth risking the ride, so they propped the door with their bags, and used the automatic opener (this was installed so that persons wouldn’t get crushed by the spring system) to exit, but they had misgauged the distance to the floor. The man had already jumped, but his wife was now dangling dangerously from the edge of the still moving cabin.

“Oh, man she’s not going to, fall right!”, Sengoku exclaimed.

“She’s not that high up, but she might risk a broken bone if she falls flat on the ground.” Saeki observed. “Ah look, the staff has noticed the-“

The emergency stop sent the cabin flying. Instinctively, Saeki and Sengoku grasped for the closest objects and promptly crashed into each other. The shaking and swaying stopped in a matter of seconds, but for Sengoku, the moment felt like an eternity.

Saeki had managed to stabilize himself, and knelt above Sengoku, whose face had turned all shades of red.

* * *

 

Sengoku felt the tension. All he could think about was how well defined Saeki's features were. His deep blue eyes and sharp eyebrows had been tearing into him for a while. His skin was still damp, and slightly sweaty from the shock of the cabin. A clump of wet strands had clung to his cheek and reflected the creamy colour of his hair. Combined with the knot in his stomach he had during the ride, it made Saeki very...attractive. But the thing that had caught Sengoku’s attention the most at the time were the very soft looking...

He knew he shouldn’t have done it, but as if caught in a haze, he closed his eyes and moved his face closer. He heard the rustling of clothes, and the sound of the wheel turning back in motion, but everything was muted compared to the sound of his heartbeat.

When he had to move his arms to support himself, Sengoku knew that Saeki had moved. He opened his eyes to see a flustered Saeki sitting on the other side of the cabin. He looked worried and startled. Sengoku averted his eyes to avoid more embarrassment. Anything was better than facing Saeki again. He should have known it was a stupid and a foolish decision, but his body acted before his mind tried to rationalize his actions.

He wanted to disappear.

Saeki was breathing heavily on his side. He didn’t really understand what was happening, but if his assumptions were right, Sengoku had feelings for him or a severe case of affection withdrawal. In either case, it felt wrong to accept advances from an already committed man.

“Well...Uhm...”

Both of them were at a loss of words.

“Let’s not talk about what happened in here, okay?”, Saeki said slowly. His soft voice managed to cut its way into Sengoku’s heart, and it pained him, for reasons unknown. He would have a hard time admitting it later, but Sengoku had completely fallen for his friend. And the feeling was mutual.

The door started opening and signalled them both to exit the ride. Silently they stepped out, leaving the next guests wondering why the air felt so stiff.

The woman had not broken her leg and wasn’t disqualified for her erratic antics. Envious looks from other participants were piercing their victorious cheer, as they jumped in each others’ arms and showcased the coupon to the public.

The premise of the prize was distant in both Saeki’s and Sengoku’s mind. Neither of them could strum up the courage to object to the rulings. That is why the operator of the wheel took the staff member of the event aside and talked it over.

“I’m sorry to announce this, but it seems there was another couple that got here earlier? Two boys?”

The organizer looked around until he spotted the two young boys in the crowd. “Hey, you over there! Did you just exit from the wheel?”

Saeki and Sengoku exchanged glances for a bit before they pushed their way through the mass. “We saw the incident happen from up there.”, Saeki explained.

“If that is indeed the case, then today is your lucky day, lads! Because-“, he walked over to the cheering couple and ripped the cheque out of her dainty fingers “-this is actually for you guys!”

 Sengoku stepped up and pushed the giving hand back to its owner. “It’s okay~ We participated for fun anyways and it would feel wrong to take this from such a lovely lady, right Sae?”

Saeki nodded. He knew that Sengoku was putting up a very shaky front, but so was he.

“Oh my, what gentlemen these boys are!”, the announcer boomed. “If you’re okay with the consolation prize that is~”

And thus ended the annual Tag team Prize event in Chiba’s Bay line amusement park. Saeki and Sengoku each got a discount coupon for the park, and a water container. It wasn’t much, but they took whatever they could still salvage from the day. On the way back home (Going to Saeki’s house meant passing by the station), Saeki mustered out a comment on their hectic day.

“What a pity huh? Even after we went through so much trouble, they still managed to snatch that victory right from under our eyes.”

Surprisingly, Sengoku continued the conversation.

“I can’t believe we lost. I think I forgot the taste of winning once in a while.”

His thoughts trailed back on the weird anticipation he had when he moved his head closer. What would he have done if Saeki hadn’t moved? Or even worse, if he had reciprocated. He really loved Chie, his current girlfriend there was no mistake in that, but with Saeki, there was something different. He wouldn’t think twice about opening up to him about it, he had seen the worst sides of him already anyway, but he doubted he would do the same for Chie. Because she was important to him. And he wouldn’t want to burden her with his problems.      

As if Saeki could hear Sengoku’s thoughts, he reassured him.

“It’s okay, I’ve forgotten all about what happened earlier. I won’t rep a word about it, not even to Chie!”

“Sae!”, Sengoku yelled out. He was a bit irritated at how abrasive and direct he was about the situation.

“Sorry~”, Saeki chuckled. “I didn’t know you were so delicate.”

“If you say anything more, I will punch you.”, Sengoku threatened. He glared at the taller boy, whose face lighted up in the sunset. It made him look even better, having the warm lights accentuate his cheekbones.

“Ah, you looked at me!”, Saeki said. “And here I thought you would continue being mad at me forever. And end up, you know, not talking to me for a month.”, he said, emphasizing the last word.

“That was an accident okay.”, Sengoku muttered. He looked away, pretending to shield his eyes from the sun, but also to avoid Saeki commenting on his flushed face.

“So, would you say today was an accident?”, Saeki asked curiously.

“Just go home already!”, Sengoku cried out, quickening his pace.

“You really should show this defenceless side to your girlfriend you know. I think she’d like it if you were so direct.”, Saeki said. “Ah, and don’t you want your shirt back? I’ll just stop by home and we can change in the gard-“

“No!”

A very tiny part of him really wanted to see what effect Saeki’s body had on him. But he was not entertaining the notion of going over to Saeki’s house. He would focus on getting home, messaging his girlfriend and shower. He would not let Saeki get into his head. Absolutely not.

“Ah, Sengoku, the station is here, you walked past it.”

Sengoku swivelled around and walked smoothly to the entrance. So much for not letting him get to his head.

“Just be true to yourself, Kiyosumin!”, Saeki yelled, as he saw Sengoku disappear behind the pillars. What did he mean with that anyway.

As Saeki saw Sengoku stomping off, he carelessly smiled to himself. He had grown very fond of him, and it would be for the best if he could focus on his current love life. It nagged him a lot more than he let on, but if somehow, by pure chance, being true to himself meant liking Saeki back, even for a little, he would be grateful.

Watching from the sidelines was no problem for him.

* * *

 

“Am I still in the clear?”

“Haven’t seen them all day.”, Saeki’s sister replied from the couch.

Saeki quickly took off his shoes and patted them on the carpet.

“What’s that, a new shirt?”

Saeki pulled at the beige fabric. “I guess.”

She threw her head back and faced him. “It’s too small for you. Is it your boyfriends’?”

“If you mean Sengoku, yeah it’s his, but I’m returning it later.”, Saeki said, taking off his vest and throwing it in the laundry basket.

“Be sure to first get all sweaty and moist in it. He’ll appreciate it.”, she said, turning back to her flick.

“Sis, you’re really disgusting.”, Saeki winced.

“I’m just giving you really good advice. We Saeki’s have a special advantage, called pheromones, and I think you should use it.”

“Whatever you say.”

Saeki sighed and went to his room. Taking off his shirt and pants, he threw the shirt underneath his pillow and picked up his lounging gear. Usually, he changed his covers himself, so he wouldn’t be in much danger of getting caught by his mother. When he lifted his hand to move his hair out of his eyes, he remembered the awful texture it must have at the moment. Perhaps a shower was necessary.

* * *

 

Sengoku came home to find his mother reading one of his magazines and his father watching tv.

“Kiyosumin, did you have a fun date?”

Sengoku remained stoic and answered: “It was not a date, just an outing between two friends.”

“That can also be considered a date you know.”

It was impossible to argue with his parents. He threw down his backpack and kicked off his shoes.

“There’s some rice left in the cooker, if you’re still hungry.”, Sengoku’s father said. “Wait, Kiyosumin.”

“Hm?”

Sengoku turned around.

“Black is not your lucky colour today. What happened?”

“Oh dear and it’s ill-fitting as well. Did your shirt expand or something?”

Sengoku opened the cooker and shovelled the gruel in  his bowl. “It’s not my shirt mum, but Saeki’s.”

“Ah, so like a boyfriend shirt.”, she replied.

“A what?”, Sengoku’s father asked.

“It’s this fashion thing where girls put on the shirts of their boyfriend. Some people are turned on by it.”

“That’s not exactly what it is.”, Sengoku said, seating himself at the kotatsu.

“Dear, you’re falling behind.”, he laughed.

“Well, because of your last temper tantrum I won’t ask in what kind of position you were that you had to take his shirt, but I’d say to be careful and not let your girlfriend know.” , she continued.

“Unless she’s into that.”, his father followed.

With his parents having an imaginary high five, Sengoku had no energy left to rebuttal any of it. He was tired and wanted to crash as soon as possible. His girlfriend hadn’t answered any of the texts he sent while he was on the train, but he was past worrying now.

“I’m turning in early mom.”, Sengoku said, putting his empty bowl down and promptly disappearing.

“Make sure you get a good rest, Kiyosumin!”, she yelled after him. “Dear, you don’t mind doing the dishes, right?”

* * *

 

Sengoku entered his room to find no furniture. He blinked twice, to be sure if he understood the scene.

“Mom! Where is my rock collection!?”

“Oh sorry, we forgot to tell you, but one of those rocks you brought home had bedbugs. We decided it was best for all of us if we stored them in the storage room. With your bed.”

“Where am I supposed to sleep!?”

“On the guest futon, silly!”

His parents were nice enough to move the bed, but not the “varia” magazines he kept beneath them. He knew they wouldn’t make that big of a deal out it but his pride was chipped at the sight of them, untouched in the open. Next to them, they had helpfully spread out his futon, with a fresh sheet. Sengoku started preparing for the night.

One bathroom break later, he found himself in the process of removing Saeki’s shirt, until he noticed how good it smelled. He halted and let it fall back, instead pulling up the collar.

Making himself comfy, he once more pulled the shirt to his face. Aside from smelling really good, it felt mellow when dry, and it was large enough to make for a makeshift nightshirt. Trying to remove any thoughts of Saeki, he surrendered himself to the night.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


	7. Saxophone solo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Sounds like a bitch."

“Kiyosumin! Your birthday is coming up soon, right? Don’t you want to hold some party? Surely you must have some friends.”

Sengoku narrowed his eyes at the loud noises his sister produced in the early morning.

“Oh wait, but you don’t have anyone to invite. What about Chie, wouldn’t she love to have a quiet dinner, just the two of you in this house? Or at hers, if her parents don’t mind.”, she continued.

“It’s not alone time when you are upstairs minding your business in your room sis.”, Sengoku said. “Besides, I’m going to do things with my teammates.”

Sengoku’s sister immediately dropped her cup on the table. “Oh, like what?”

“Tennis, probably.”

“Kiyosumin, you’re so lame~ Why don’t you do something fun, like a movie night. You know, the thing Saeki did with his team. And even then, you can still let Chie stay over, as long as you two don’t do anything nasty.”

“Sis, do you really think that it’s smart to have about ten people stay over in-,” he gestured “-this?”

The living room that doubled as an eating room was not commodious at all. And Sengoku doubted that he was going to let any of them in his room.

“But how many do you think will actually come?”

“Don’t make it sound like I have no friends~”, Sengoku retaliated. “We’ll probably hold some kind of club ceremony.”

“Last time I heard the end term will only be in December, you know. And it’s not like you will be studying three weeks beforehand anyway. They don’t have an excuse to be that busy.”

“If you say so.”, Sengoku trailed off. If he asked properly, most of his teammates would probably come. But having a sweet fifteen with the Jimmies, Muromachi and Dan would be very...plain. Not like he had anything against them, but they did not seem like the party people. Perhaps Nishiokori would go, but Sengoku honestly had no idea what his personality was like, considering he never interacted with him off grounds.

“Can’t you...arrange something at your work?”

“Kiyosumin! I’ve done nothing but arranging rooms for the past six months! And here I finally thought you would be a bit more original for your birthday.”

“Okay, I’m sorry~”

“By the way, can’t you just hold a sleepover party the weekend before the twenty-fourth of Thursday? We’re full on booked throughout that whole week.”, she continued.

“It’s too cramped in here to watch movies, I don’t have a game console except for my Gameboy and there won’t be enough girls to make it a party.”, Sengoku huffed.

“Use your imagination, you’re always so good at that. Go play some catch, do some obstacle courses, go climbing.”

“Tennis is more fun you know.”, Sengoku said.

“If it isn’t your fortune, it’s tennis, and if it isn’t tennis, it’s your love life. Isn’t there anything more exciting in your life?”, she asked him.

Sengoku’s thoughts trailed off to the “fun” hunt he did last month with Saeki. They had kept in contact, during the weekends. Sometimes, the events that happened in the cabin of the Ferris wheel sneaked its way back into his consciousness. He once tried to investigate why he suddenly felt so overwhelmed by Saeki’s presence back then.

* * *

 

“Higashikata, you work out a lot right?”, Sengoku asked him one day in the locker room. “Lifting weights and stuff.”

“I do, why do you ask?”, the vice captain said as he folded his shirt.

“Can I please touch your abs?”

A small fight later, Sengoku got kicked out of the club room, but he did get what he wanted. Disappointment.

He did not feel weird or bothered when he manhandled Higashikata’s biceps. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that his face was quite plain, simply said. But even after looking at thousands of Keigo modelling propaganda for his stock  broker business, he didn’t feel any different. Atobe had a weird fashion style, but it fitted him. He probably never bought his clothes prêt a porter.

But in a way he didn’t comprehend, imagining Saeki’s face, and the small details that dotted him was incredibly easy, flustering him as well.

 

* * *

 

“Kiyosumin, are you even listening? Your big sis is trying to help you here.”, she yammered.

“I-I am listening.”, Sengoku said.

“Head in space huh? Well, what did I just say?”, she said as she plugged the vacuum in.

“Something about tennis?”, Sengoku guessed through the noise.

“”No!”, she yelled. “Look, I can reserve a room next Saturday evening, but my boss will have my head if I only book for two people again. So get at least six people, otherwise you’re not eligible for the big room!”

“Really? You want to do that?”

“It’s your birthday gift, so don’t expect anything fancy from me on your actual birthday. And only the reservation! If you want refreshments or anything, ask mom or dad.”

“C’mon sis...It’s my birthday.”, Sengoku pleaded. “First drinks for free?”

“They’re always for free in the birthday room.”

* * *

 

“Don’t mess it up!”, Sengoku’s sister yelled.

Sengoku and his misfit band of friends got entrusted the pass for the big karaoke parlor. Which essentially meant three or four more seats, and a bit more leg room. It didn’t help that they had to start at around seven o’ clock, because a certain duo arrived a tad too late.

“Sorry~”

“I’m not functional before dinner~”

Kita and Nitobe were being extremely whimsical, and according to Sengoku’s taste, they didn’t bother hiding the fact that they probably took a quick nap as well.

“You have some lettuce on your shirt.”

“Whoops~”

The regular karaoke team was completed. Higashikata had some business to do, Akutsu never bothered showing up and Momoshiro was, well, not responding.

“Now, I don’t want to be noisy but...Do you guys have some special friendship we don’t know about?”, Minami asked Sengoku, pointing at Saeki. “I understand bringing your girlfriend to this, but it looks unusual when you bring someone from Chiba, especially when that  it’s the vice captain of a rival team. Someone you never talk about.

“We have...history.”, Sengoku said, glancing at his friend. He had invited him because Sengoku interrupted his party back then, and because his parents insisted that Saeki came over. They bribed Saeki’s parents with the promise that Sengoku got good grades in math (even showing his report cards) and that they could plan nice study sessions in the winter vacation. Surprisingly, Saeki’s sister cooperated. She’d give him a free lift if she could rent a mini booth at a discount. Heartbreaks weren’t fun and even her parents felt that singing out the murderous rage was better than breaking all the doors in the house.

“He told me that he wanted to “flashen” up the party.”, Saeki smiled.

“What do you mean with that, desu?”

Sengoku felt that Saeki might have offended half of his team with that sentence and quickly intervened. “Nothing. I just heard that uh...Saeki was exceptionally good at singing. And let’s be honest, out of you all, who is not tone deaf?”

Muromachi put his hand up. He carried a big black leather case with him. When prompted by Sengoku about it, he evaded the question by saying it was a surprise.

“Ah, Sengoku, you already received your presents right?”, Saeki had asked.

“Oh if it’s about that, we already exchanged them this noon at practice, together with the cake, so this is more of an after school hang out spot.”, Minami confirmed.

“I see.”

“Should I, introduce myself?”, the girl next to Sengoku asked. She had been hovering behind his back for a while.

“Ah, yeah, you two, this is Chie, my current girlfriend.”, Sengoku said, pushing her forward.

“Current he says? How specific~”

“Are we intruding~”

“Chie, plantboy is Nitobe, swirly cheeks is Kita.”, Sengoku said impatiently, ushering them to enter the room. Despite the warning call of his sister, they found themselves propped up against each other in the cramped space.

“Muromachi, can you please move that thing to your lap?”, Minami asked. The black casket was taking up a lot of space, and putting it on the table was practically impossible.

Sengoku was sandwiched between his girlfriend and Saeki. While he had to keep up his cool persona, throwing an arm over her shoulder, Saeki’s presence definitely didn’t help. He looked over and saw him chatting with the captain, talking about club positions.

“Kiyosumi, what are you looking at~”, Chie asked, snuggling up closer to Sengoku, taking a peek at his friends.

“Nothing important.”, Sengoku said absent-mindedly. He had been staring at Saeki’s hands, longing to just softly brush against them.

“Are you sure?”, Chie asked, turning his head towards herself. “Ah, I know, you wanted to grab a snack didn’t you?”

She bent over Sengoku and reached for the platter of baby carrots, squeezing all of her tiny assets against his chest. “Almost got it~”

Somehow his teammates were too oblivious to see what was going on. While past Sengoku would have felt like he was in heaven, he was now awkwardly shoulder tapping Saeki to pass the dishes.

“Ah, Chie, here.”, Saeki said, slowly pushing her back in her seat and sliding the platter to the front.

“Thank you Sae!”, she cheered. She clapped her hands and flashed a smile, turning her head a bit.

Sae? It was nothing that Saeki wasn’t used to, but it didn’t feel right when a stranger he’d just met called him that.

“Oh, should I not have called you that? Kiyosumi here always calls you Sae, so I thought you wouldn’t mind if I did it.”, she said innocently. She made sure to blink a few times at him and pout a bit.

Saeki understood how Sengoku could have easily fallen for her, although he’d have to warn him later to not be deceived by cute appearances. Shaking the unpleasant thoughts out of his brain, he decided to not be too protective of his friend.

“It’s okay, it just took me off guard. I’m not used to being called that by girls.”, Saeki answered. On the opposite side, Muromachi and Dan had compromised by setting the casket on the podium.

“Then, are you more used to being called Kojirou?”, she once asked. Sengoku choked a bit on the mini carrot in his throat.

“Dan, do you think she would call me Touji?”, Muromachi whispered.

“I only call pretty boys with their first name~”, she replied, putting out her tongue playfully.

“I’m okay with that.”, Muromachi said. According to Sengoku, Muromachi was already smitten with his girlfriend.

Saeki awkwardly looked at a point between Sengoku and Chie.

“Chie, are you trying to make me jealous?”, Sengoku joked.

“Am not.”, she said, winking at Saeki. What a precarious situation he found himself in.

In Chie’s mind, Saeki made it worth going to her “boyfriend’s” party. It was the first time in a while that she immediately felt affection for a stranger on first sight. Even Sengoku didn’t top him.

* * *

 

She was simply serving drinks at her father’s work, because one of the servers called in sick. Approaching the team of plain boys; she could find them dime a dozen at any arcade probably, she set the tray down and flashed a smile, before power walking away as fast as she could.

But she was halted in her steps when the only good looking guy from the group appeared in front of her. Three cheesy and horrible pick up lines later, she decided she’d give him a chance, eventually wearing the badge of girlfriend on her shirt. At first he was charming, and him being good of mind and sporty made him the perfect bragging material to her friends. Seeing their jealous faces was extremely satisfying, especially since she had to act all oblivious and cute about it. But the spark of it soon wore off. On the surface, he was perfect, but there was nothing beneath it. The things she crushed on, his directness and looks did not keep her attention for too long. But even worse, was his horrible behaviour.

Sengoku did not mind checking out other girls. Chie wondered if he was aware that his eyes would often trail to other girls. At first, she chided him a bit, but when he continued doing it, she grew a bit resentful.

 It started as teasing. Openly flirting and hitting on his friends in front of him, being a bit coy and touchy with some of his male friends.

She knew he was uncomfortable with it. But she also knew that Sengoku still loved her.

She was having fun.

* * *

 

“Alright! I think I’m ready for my surprise gift to Sengoku.”, Muromachi suddenly shouted. “I uh, wrote a special piece for my best friend’s birthday.”

Sengoku forced a smile on his face. He knew that Muromachi preferred to spend his time online, but he pitied him a bit. “I’m curious~”

Muromachi opened his casket to reveal...a saxophone. His teammates knew he dabbled in music, but imagined a less eloquent instrument.

“Here I go!”, Muromachi yelled as he positioned himself.

“Do your best, desu!”

What followed, were fifteen minutes of pure horror. Sengoku feared they had already used up their reserved hour because of how long it seemed. If Muromachi had showed this amount of stamina in his tennis matches, he could easily resign as the ace and pass on his title.

With every pause, Dan was ready to start applauding. He wasn’t old enough yet to truly appreciate music, but he sure knew bad sounds when he heard them. He almost wanted to suggest getting the small rodent out of the pipe thing, but decided against it as to not ruin the party atmosphere.

“The end!”, Muromachi said, before bowing gracefully.

Saeki was the first one to start clapping, and everyone but the two doubles players joined. They had put their earplugs in for the moment.

“Thanks Muromachi.”, Sengoku said. He was baffled. “I appreciate it.”

Saeki was impressed by the stare Sengoku gave him. It looked familiar.

“N-no problem Sengoku!”, Muromachi yelped, as he hurriedly stuffed his saxophone back into his case and went back to his seat.

“Uhm, why don’t we do some singing instead?”, Chie suggested. She knew Sengoku’s friends looked unimpressive, but not that they were actually really lame.

“Shouldn’t the birthday boy start?”, Nitobe commented, hoarding the crisps.

“Off to a flashy start huh?”, Minami said. “I don’t mind.”

Chie flashed a grin at him and stood up to let him pass. “You can do it, Kiyosumin~”

Using the newfound space, she seated herself extremely close to Saeki.

“Let’s do something cheery first~”, Sengoku said.

As the music started up, Chie used the momentum to rub her back against Saeki’s shoulder, throwing her hair back so it would hit his cheek. She did her best to maintain eye contact with Sengoku, who occasionally glanced back to see if everything was still okay.

Sengoku did his best to put on a super flashy performance.

“Hey hey heey~ Rescue me baby now!”, he sang, winking at the only girl in the room.

Minami felt a bit overwhelmed, Dan was admiring his energy and Muromachi tried to ignore the smooth leg of the girl that “accidentally” brushed against his pants at times. Nitobe and Kita could very well have been background decoration at that point.

“You’re so cool, Kiyosumi!” she squealed, taking Saeki’s hand under the table.

Saeki winced. He didn’t really understand the girl, but he knew that she was being extremely cheeky. He patted her hand away, but each time when Sengoku focused on showing off with a difficult dance move, she returned searching for it. He would have loved to tell her off, but he also didn’t want to ruin the party.

“Hm hm hm hm hm~”, Sengoku finished. “And, how was it?”

“You were better last time. It sounded like you were nervous, desu.”, Dan said professionally.

“Don’t be so harsh on me Dan.”, Sengoku pouted. Last time he went out, the girls ditched him halfway, so he had to use the last half hour on singing with Dan and Muromachi. Not recommendable. “Why don’t you sing?”

“E-eh? Me, desu?”

“Do your best~”, Sengoku winked, throwing the microphone into Dan’s lap. He grinned at the sight of the boy fumbling around with it, trying to select a song.

A familiar jingle played through the room. “W-wait, isn’t this a girly song?”, Dan asked. “I don’t think I can sing this, desu.”

Minami smiled. “Dan, if you are to become captain, you’ll have to deal with unexpected happenings.”

While Dan was trying to replicate the sounds on the screen, Sengoku tried to pry his girlfriend of Saeki. She was a bit loose, but who was he to blame. Pulling her back into a half-hearted embrace, he enjoyed the cute performance Taichi was giving the room.

Chie struggled to let Saeki’s knee go when Sengoku forcefully put her arm around her. Party crasher. She had already concocted a master plan, and there was not a single scenario where she would lose.

“Has it finished, desu?”, Dan asked, sweat beading from his forehead. Even Akutsu’s headband did not prevent the weird stress he was under. Was this the secret peer pressure he heard his classmates talking about?

“Good job Dan!”, Muromachi cheered.

“Da-da-dan! Thank you, desu. Who wants to go next?”, Dan asked as he returned to his seat.

“Kojirou, I want to hear you sing~”, Chie whined. “I bet you’ll do amazing.”

Saeki felt put on the spot. He did not like all the attention she was giving him, but Sengoku didn’t seem concerned in the least. It was impossible to be that oblivious, wasn’t it?

“Oh, try it Sae! I’m curious to know what your singing voice is like.”, Sengoku encouraged.

It couldn’t be helped. Saeki gallantly picked up the microphone and stepped over the couple to select a song.

“I really wonder why he didn’t become the captain~”

“Yeah, I wonder too~ He is nothing like ours~”

“Hey, mind your tongue you two.”

He felt better now that he wasn’t constricted by Chie’s weird public displays of affection. It’s not like he disliked clingy girls, but he was not one that felt good betraying the trust of a friend. Sometimes, he wondered what would have happened if he didn’t pull away that time. But that was the past, and thinking about it would only lead to a path where he would either interfere with Sengoku’s relationship with Chie, or himself.

“Sunset way?”, he confirmed to the room.

“I love that song! It’s so cheery, but it has very sad undertones.”, Chie explained, escaping out of Sengoku’s grasp.

“Chie...”, Sengoku said.

He thought she was overdoing it a bit. Her positive and praising personality was definitely a charm point that made him fall for her, but sometimes it felt forced and excessive. He knew it was probably just his manly mind making up content to be jealous off, but it still hurt. As the song started, he tried to ignore her cheers in favour of watching Saeki’s performance.

He really liked the natural effort Saeki put into his song. It wasn’t extremely flashy like Sengoku would’ve done it, and neither were there any overemotional faces, complicated dance moves or audience interactions like winks. He was simply singing. And yet again, Sengoku longed to get a little bit closer to him, to switch seats with Chie and imagine Saeki was singing to him alone. It was a selfish wish he did not understand the source of. Rejecting the notion that any of it could be love, the tempered fire in his heart was flaring up.

“Saeki, you’re so cool, desu!”, Dan yelled. “Your tone is flat, but the timing was impeccable.”

“I haven’t sung in quite a while.”, Saeki lied. His sister knew that every time he showered, he tried to sing “My heart will go on”, and was using it as leverage for stupid favours.

“Captain, would you like to go next?”, Saeki asked, offering the microphone to Minami. Even though he was a bit intimidated by the flashy displays, he gracefully took the microphone.

“Kojirou, you were amazing!”, Chie yelled from her seat. Even with Sengoku as a buffer between them, it did not stop her from kicking his feet once in a while during Minami’s song.

A mostly unimpressive song later, the second serving of drinks had already appeared. Chie took the responsibility upon her to pass them towards her two new play toys.

“A Ponta for Kiyosumi~ And a Cola fo- Ah!”

While putting Saeki’s glass on the table, she accidentally bumped her elbow on the fresh delivered nacho bowl. The result was a cascade of hot sauce on Saeki’s brand new, white shirt.

“Oh gosh, I’m like, so sorry Kojirou!”

“Da-dan! An emergency has struck us, I have some paper towels in my bag, desu!”, Dan exclaimed as he started rummaging through his backpack.

“It’s tomato based sauce, it won’t come off easily.”, Sengoku chimed in. He pulled back to avoid dirtying his own clothes. “Ah, why don’t you go ask my sister for some cleaning supplies, she should be able to open the storage room.”

“Will do.”, Saeki said. The hot sauce was still preferred compared to a glass of soda, but he didn’t like it at all. As a good natured person, he sincerely believed that Chie had no bad intentions, despite her erratic behaviour.

“Let me come with you!”, Chie pleaded. “I’ll help you clean it, it’s the least I could do.”

“I-It’s okay, really.”, Saeki assured. It’d do him good to get a breath of fresh air on his own.

“I insist. Otherwise I’d feel really guilty about it.”, she said, pulling on his arm.

“It’s fine by me Sae.”, Sengoku said. “We’ll just let Muromachi do a song until you get back, if you know what I mean.”

Saeki added an imaginary wink to the last part and excused himself, followed by the little fox.

* * *

 

“I’m sorry, the janitor has already left for today and he messaged that he accidentally put the keys in his pocket. We do have some washing powder a guest forgot, but you’ll need to clean it up in the washrooms.”

“Okay, that’s no problem. Thank you miss.”, Saeki said politely as he accepted the cardboard box. He never quite imagined that it would come to this, and he felt like he was destroying Sengoku’s day by stealing his girlfriend on this special occasion. Well, as long as Sengoku told him he didn’t mind, he didn’t actually need to feel guilty.

“Is it okay to enter?”, a feminine voice rang out next to him. Saeki realized that he was about to enter the men’s room. Checking if anyone was in the stalls, he invited her in.

The trap was set. Now the only thing she had to do was dangle the bait in front of him, and she would lure him in. Men were always so predictable. She pulled her skirt up a bit and loosened her collar. With the confidence of a lioness, she pranced inside.

Kojirou was not paying any attention to her, instead choosing to concentrate on the running water and the sponge he used to dab off the sauce. She slithered behind him and pretended to open the box, running her hands along the side.

“Kojirou, you aren’t mad at me, are you?”, she asked with her sweetest voice.

“Not really, no.”, Saeki answered. This stain would require a lot of whatever the thing was in the box. Glancing aside, he saw the sultry position Chie had placed herself in.

“Ah, would you mind moving your arms? I can’t read the instructions like that.”

“O-oh sure.”, she said. She didn’t expect that to happen, but she would be patient for now.

As Saeki expected, the box contained cloth softener. It would not help the shirt return to its original creamy white, but he could at least use it to get most of the sticky red off.

Chie slid to the other side and sat on the washing stands. She admired Saeki’s working ethic, but her next plan had already started. She heaved one of her legs up the counter and spread the other one to Saeki’s side. It was the ultimate teasing tactic and it managed to throw off most of the boys she met. And how lucky wasn’t she that today was the day she wore exceptionally cute underwear?

“Ah.”, Saeki suddenly exclaimed.

She got him. She bend her knee inwards, and took on a shy pose.

“Can you please move your leg? If this powder is toxic, you might end up with a nasty burn.”

“S-sure.”, Chie said. Either he was really dense, or he was being coy. Direct approach.

Saeki was having trouble with the sponge. The powder would not stick to it and the sink did not have a plug. He needed something more fibrous.

Chie slipped her arms around his elbow and tiptoed until she was as close to his face as her height would allow. Mustering with all her might, she whispered softly in his ears: “Can I do something for you.”

Saeki jerked back in surprise of her closeness. Definitely Sengoku’s type.

“You, uh, have good timing. Can you fetch some toilet paper? The paper towels are jammed again.”, he said, pointing at the machine.

She had enough of his stupid reactions. If only he stopped beating around the bush and admitted that he liked her, instead of being afraid of hurting his friends feelings. She strode up to him, and threw the toilet roll into his hands.

“Ah thanks!”, Saeki smiled at her. Gods, he was so handsome. She was going to move in for the kill.

Taking Saeki’s left hand, she pushed it on her right breast and pulled the other hand on her hips. “Kojirou, can’t you be my boyfriend?”, she asked.

Saeki immediately pulled his hands back and protested: “What the-”

He was cut off by a small force that pulled him down and forced itself on his mouth. It was completely unexpected and he struggled to get free, but his collar was heavily extended by the fine hands.

As for how pretty he admitted Chie was, he despised every single second of the kiss. Not only was it his first, something he was a bit embarrassed of, it was with the girlfriend of a very, very good friend, and it was someone he felt no affection for. The whole thing was disgusting, and the invasive movements of her tongue made him shudder. He quickly came to his senses, and violently pushed her back.

“What the- What the heck do you think you’re doing!”, Saeki yelled. His emotions overran him, and he had trouble trying to keep his composure. He was angry, but he also felt conflicted. The thought of his first kiss not being with someone he loved and cherished made his gut twist, but that would be an afterthought.

“Kojirou, Kiyosumi doesn’t have to know.”, Chie pleaded. Saeki was stronger than he looked. Not only a pretty boy huh.

“Don’t call me Kojirou, never do that again!”, he bursted out. He had to calm down, before he would do anything he’d regret. While she was recovering from the blow to her shoulders, he took deep breaths and tried to steady his heart rate. But it was hard.

“Are you perhaps not single? Don’t worry, I can do everything you want.”, Chie continued. She was vaguely aware that Saeki’s anger would not result into physical violence. There was no risk to this. If Saeki rejected her, she’d still have Kiyosumi. And she would be content with it. Her left hand lifted up her skirt, and with her right hand she popped open a button of her shirt. “Everything.”

“Everything huh?”, Saeki said as he stepped forward and grabbed her wrist. The clench made Chie flinch, and she tried to break free of his grasp. The boy in front of her seemed to radiate an intimidating, pressing aura. She looked up to meet the most strange, and scary eyes she had seen in a while.

“Then please leave now and don’t ever show your revolting face again.”, Saeki said calmly.

She could forgive him calling her revolting, if that was his best insult. After all, a handsome boyfriend made up for an ugly girl, wouldn’t he?

“But you know you want me.”, she said, patting her thighs.

“No. Absolutely not.”, Saeki smiled.

It took a while before she understood the situation. Was he looking down on her? It was so unusual that Chie had trouble computing the fact. Of course she still had Kiyosumi, but what did that matter when she couldn’t catch the prey that she actually wanted?

“H-hey! Wait a moment! You should like me! Don’t act all high and mighty because you just so happen to have a prettier face than most do, everyone likes me!”, she yelled in disbelief. She never had any troubles getting boys to fall for her, what was so different with this one.

“I just happen to have standards.”

A stinging burn flashed through his left cheek. Before he could even comprehend what had happened, Chie had already bolted out of the bathroom.

* * *

 

Nitobe was dropping his latest rap-hit when the door opened to a crying girl with swollen cheeks. Sengoku immediately sprang up and reached for her.

“Chie, what happened?”

“I-It was...so horrible...”, she sniffed.

Minami and Dan had already rushed over, and Muromachi was trying to shut off the track and get the doubles to stop rapping with their earplugs in.

“Take a seat! Whatever happened, it’s okay, I’m here!”, Sengoku said, stroking her back.

“Did something happen to Saeki?”, Minami asked.

“Y-yes, he did something...”

Chie was not pretending to cry, the tears at her loss were genuine. But she figured she could at least destroy some friendships while she was at it.

“Where is he now?”, Sengoku asked. Clearly he would be in trouble, if his girlfriend was so shaken up about it.

“He forced himself on me!”, Chie suddenly exclaimed.

While Dan gasped in surprise, Sengoku noticed that her shirt buttons were undone, her hair was in a mess and her skirt was...strangely bent.

“He first took me aside – sniff – in the man’s bathroom, and then he suddenly started undoing my blouse.”

“Da-da-daan! There’s no way Saeki did that, right!?”

Sengoku motioned for Dan to shut up. “Continue.”

“I struggled, I really did, but he...he kissed me! I slapped him and ran away here, and now I’m, now I’m...”

“There, there. Don’t say anymore.”, Sengoku said as he stroked her back. He closed his eyes and let out a deep breath.

“Sengoku, what should we do?”, Minami asked carefully.

Sengoku made sure that the crying had stopped, and stood up.

“Can everyone but Dan come? Chie, you as well please.”, he asked. “I’m afraid this will be very unpleasant.”

Chie cursed inwardly. Did he really need her to confront Saeki. That was an awfully harsh request for someone who just got assaulted.

“D-do I really have to?”

“I’m sorry I have to ask you this, but I want to make sure that I can protect you.”, Sengoku said solemnly. “Would you please do this for me?”

He put out his hand. She couldn’t do anything but oblige. Remarkably, his hand felt really warm at that moment. As a group, they left the room and Dan behind.

“Sengoku looked really scary desu...”

When Muromachi saw Saeki and Sengoku’s sister talking at the desk, he instinctively hid behind Minami. Through his sunglasses, he could not distinguish Saeki’s facial expressions. He almost considered taking them off, until Chie cried out.

“Kiyosumi, I really can’t stand to be in the same room as him!”

Her voice was still as sweet as ever. Muromachi felt a bit ashamed for thinking that.  He saw Sengoku move out the corner of his eye, taking a strong step forward. Saeki immediately stepped backwards.

“Sae, look at me.”, Sengoku said.

Muromachi held his breath at how tensed the room was. He saw Saeki slowly turn his head to face Sengoku.

“Ah!”, he gasped, and quickly closed his mouth. Sengoku had balled his hand into a fist. Things were getting serious, and while Muromachi really felt like jumping in, and calling for peace, his voice came short.

“Chie, you claim that Saeki did all that to you?”, Sengoku asked once again.

The tone of his voice reminded Muromachi from the time when he announced that he was leaving the club. It was supposed to be a private conversation between Banji and Sengoku alone, but he eavesdropped out of curiosity.

“H-he did.”, she said weakly.

“I see.”, Sengoku said.

Muromachi secretly rooted for Saeki to say something. To refute the claims, slam them down and deny everything, but he kept silent.

Neither parties, nor the doubles dared to open their mouth. Muromachi was at his limit. “Gu-“

“I’m sorry Chie, but I think we have to break up.”

“What!?”, Muromachi yelped. The two doubles players behind him took his shoulder and forced him down.

Chie just stared. What did he just say? Did he suggest that they break up?

“Wh-what did you say Kiyosumi? I didn’t quite ge-“

“We should break up. I don’t think it’s good for either of us if we continue to see each other.”, Sengoku followed.

Chie looked up at her boyfriend, and saw him flash a nice smile at her. “You, you can’t be serious, can you?”

“I can, don’t you believe me?”, Sengoku asked, cocking his head. “I’m just not good with people that lie a lot.”

This wasn’t right. First Saeki rejecting her, and now Sengoku breaking up with her? It was not like she actually imagined a future with Sengoku, but it didn’t have to end as soon as this. There was no possible way he could have seen through her plot, could he?

Sengoku walked over to Saeki and grabbed his shoulder from behind. “Don’t worry, you were very convincing. I’m pretty sure all the other guys fell for it. Even I did.”

“What do you mean, Kiyosumi? You’re acting very strange.”, she continued. She was not going down by this mere playboy.

“It felt really strange when you told me your story, but I think you must have misunderstood something. Sae is my friend, a very good friend, and I for one trust that he would never put a finger on you.”

Sengoku thought back on the conversation he and Saeki made on the way back to the station.

A pretty innocent sentence made Sengoku realize that Saeki must have really valued Sengoku’s romantic relationship with Chie. It stuck with him, and because of it, he was able to gather the courage to continue dating her for more than the allotted time he had calculated on his calendar. And put his feelings for Saeki temporarily aside.

“Sengoku. I appreciate your trust.”, Saeki said.

“Don’t get all teary eyed on me, man.”, Sengoku replied.

“Ah no, it’s just that my cheek is still stinging.”

“You stupid.”, Sengoku grinned as he pushed Saeki forward.

Chie couldn’t believe her eyes. She was determined to continue the victim act, but she knew that she had lost to those...imbeciles! She refused to admit defeat. This could not be. At the very least she should be the one breaking up with Sengoku.

While his friends were already relieved to hear that their rival did not assault a girl, the girl herself was seething with boiling hatred. She stepped forward and lifted her ha-

Sengoku caught her wrist with ease. Boxing gave him good reflexes. “I still don’t really know what happened, but don’t do it again. I’m really against fighting girls and I would love if we could solve this without violence.”, he said sadly.

“But I’m not.”, a voice suddenly rang out behind him.

* * *

 

After Saeki got slapped, he took a moment to progress what had happened. Tears started welling up, but not so much because of the pain (he’d might like it later) but because of a mix of anger and sadness dwelling inside him. Instead of returning to the karaoke room and clarifying things, he went to the front desk to talk things over with Sengoku’s sister. Peeking from the corridor, he saw her having a chat with his sister.

“Look, I don’t really care what booze it is, just gimme some~”, Saeki’s sister said, leaning over the counter. “Do you like girls?  Do I hafta flash my ti-”

“For the last time, you’re a minor and you are not allowed to have drinks! Please go back to your booth.”

“B-but it’s so lonely.”, she cried.

“Then you should have rented a bigger booth.”, Sengoku’s sister said. “Saeki, is that you?”

The two faces immediately turned to him.

“Brooo~ You look fucked up.”, she said as she crawled to Saeki. “Wait, did you get in a fight?”

Saeki touched his cheek. “Does it look that bad?”, he asked.

“Left an imprint. And your eyelids are completely swollen as well.”, Sengoku’s sister chimed in. “I’ll get some ice.”

“Someone slapped your pretty face huh? Tell yur big sisssta. Who was the girl or gay~”

Saeki immediately confessed to everything that had happened in the booth and bathroom. He himself was surprised at the fluidity at which it exited his mouth, not stumbling over his sentences.

“Sounds like a real bitch work. I reckon she has some other plans up her sleeve, but don’t ya worry, big sis will take care of it.”, his sister reassured him, cracking her knuckles.

“Sorry Saeki, but there were no ice packs left. Is cold water okay?”,the other woman said as she exited the storage room.

“I have sum in my car~ I’ll be right back to avenge my little pretteh brother.”, she said, as she stumbled to the exit.

“Ah, are you sure you didn’t give her any booze?”, Saeki asked as he accepted the wet towel.

“There’s a vending machine right next to this building. We don’t perform bag checks on customers.”

* * *

 

Saeki and co turned around to the voice of a very angry woman.

“Huh, is this kid the bitch that dared touch my bro?”, she asked, eyeing Chie up and down. She didn’t look impressive, maybe a bit cute, but she lacked the ferociousness or body to fulfil her wishes.

Chie looked at the strange woman with a sack of frozen peas in her hands. Saeki’s sister? Well, whoever she was, if she would try to intimidate her with her impressive height, she would not give her the satisfaction of yie-

A hand struck her cheek.

“Argh!”

Before she knew it, she was crying. “What the hell!”, she yelled out, grabbing for her pulsing right cheek. She thought that the worst this one could was maybe threaten her a bit, push her around. But she was clearly not playing around, and that scared her.

“Get out.”, she said, pulling Chie to her feet and pushing her towards the exit. She reeked of alcohol, and if there was anything she had learned from her mother, it was not to play with anyone that seemed intoxicated. Hanging her head low, she had no choice but to retreat. None of them were worth her.

The group watched her scurry away.

“Sorry for all this drama~”, Sengoku apologized sheepishly.

“Sengoku, this is why we tell you to focus on tennis instead of girls.”, Minami dared to say.

“That’s right, you’re too dramatic~”

“Dramatic all right~”

“H-hey, sometimes there’s a rotten one between the countless ones I’ve plucked.”

“But this was only like...your tenth girlfriend? Are you saying one in ten is spoiled?”, Muromachi asked, counting on his fingers.

“Yeah, blabla, I’m going home. If you aren’t outside in five minutes, I’ll leave you here Kojirou.”, his sister said.

“Wait, miss, you shouldn’t drive like that!”, Sengoku’s sister said as she followed her.

* * *

 

Relieved that most things got resolved peacefully, Minami and co took their goodbyes. Dan never knew what actually happened and was told to shush up about it to his fellow datamen, something he long since had honoured.

The Sengokus determined that it wasn’t responsible to let Saeki’s sister drive back. With much reluctance, they decided to drop her off at one of her friends in the neighbourhood while the car was locked in the parking of the entertainment parlor. Deciding that it wouldn’t be good for Saeki to stay over in the dark slums, she invited him to stay the night at hers.

Waving goodbye to his sister, Saeki and Sengoku were walking home at the chilly border between evening and night. Both of them were quiet, and neither felt like talking about the events that transpired between them.

Sengoku understood that whatever happened in the bathroom must have left a mark on Saeki.

Saeki understood that breaking up with your girlfriend, or learning that the person you shared intimate moments with was deceiving you all the time, must have felt awful.

As if they shared a bit of the pain, their fingertips brushed each other and very slowly intertwined. It was Sengoku who decided to cup Saeki’s hand, relishing a bit in the warmth it was radiating.

For that single moment, even the noise in the background died out, and the invisible stars in the sky seemed to sparkle thousand times fold more.

For that moment, time was allowed to stop.


	8. You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Ew. Gross."

But it still moved on.

Having enjoyed each other’s presence and touch, they had to separate when they reached the front gate of Sengoku’s home. He slipped his fingers loose to get the key from his pocket. The chilly breeze startled Saeki and he put his now free hand back into his pockets. Re entering the somewhat familiar house, he expected a silence, but instead the loud cheers from Sengoku’s parents filled the house.

“Four to zero! We’re winning!”

“I can’t believe it!”

They were watching a sports program and hadn’t noticed the arrival of the two.

“We’re home!”, Sengoku yelled, taking off his shoes.

“We don’t care son, the Chiba Seastars are leading!”, his father yelled.

“Oh, but Saeki is here isn’t he?”, his mother said, stepping up to welcome the intruder.

“I’m very sorry for the circumstances.”, Saeki said sheepishly. “I hope everything has been made clear.”

“Your sister seems like a fun woman!”, she answered gleefully. “And here I was afraid that  everyone of your family was so serious. Especially your father.”

“Ah, have you guys met then?”, Saeki asked.

“Not really, but I can imagine a man’s face just by his voice.”

Saeki nodded.

“Ah, pardon my manners. Have you already eaten a proper dinner? And I don’t mean the snacks they feed you at the parlor.”

Saeki tried to think of the most polite way to tell her that he was indeed starving, but was distracted by Sengoku’s figure at the kitchen counter.

Sengoku’s mother followed his visage until she saw her son stuffing his mouth directly from the cooker.

“Kiyosumi, how can you be so disgusting when your friend is around! Or in general, I did not raise you like this!”, she yelled, stampeding to pry Sengoku’s arm of the container.

“He’s hungry dear, what can you do about it?”, his father said from the couch.

“Teach him to get a bowl! Honestly, why does the only other reasonable person in this household have to work nightshifts.”

His mother slapped him on the back and forced him to sit properly at the table. “Sorry mum, was hungry.”, he said.

“Now, I hope you don’t mind that my son has already touched this food. I don’t think he has any transferrable diseases, so please eat your fill.”, she said putting a large and a smaller bowl on the table.

“Well if he had any, I think he’d find out tonight.”, he said in his most raunchy voice.

Sengoku’s mother rolled her eyes and gave the boys a “Don’t listen to him” look, ignoring the piggy snorts that came from his direction.

They passed the dinner in a comfortable silence, cheering softly along whenever the Chiba Seastars managed to score against the Okinawan Slugs.

“Oh, Saeki! She mentioned that your shirt is all dirty. My daughter I mean, do you want me to wash it? I was going to put the white laundry in any way this night.

“If you would do that, I’d be really grateful, Saeki smiled. Sorry for the inconvenience.”

“Don’t sweat it.”, she said. “Kiyosumi, mind giving Saeki one of your pyjamas? You guys seem to be about the same height.”

“Actually I’m taller.”, Saeki said.

“Just a bit.”, Sengoku followed.

“Let’s not be fussy about that. Just drop the shirt in the laundry basket upstairs and I’ll take care of it.”, Sengoku’s mother said, taking the empty dishes from the table.

* * *

 

“Here, Sae.”, Sengoku said as he threw the clothes inside the bathroom. “They have long sleeves and look a bit cute, but I hope you don’t mind them.”

Saeki thanked him and took the bunny covered pyjamas. They had big buttons and felt really soft. He had folded his vest and pants on the side, opting to take them with him in Sengoku’s room. The shirt was floating in between the socks and towels.

“They’re really soft.”, Saeki chuckled, as he tested for Sengoku’s presence. He heard his footsteps fade away.

It were the little things that infatuated him.

Sengoku had changed in his usual shirt. The room looked much cleaner and inviting without the magazines strewn around, holed and neatly stacked in his closet. Where his cabinet with stones once hung, he had replaced ir with various posters he lacked the space for before the bed bugs accident. His sister’s guest futon lay next to his, and he anxiously awaited Saeki’s arrival. Now that his parents weren’t in the vicinity, perhaps they could talk things over a bit. Just a little. He’d try reading a book or something to stave off the lingering loneliness.

Trying his best not to look up when he heard the sound of the door opening, he feigned ignorance and flipped a page.

Saeki held the little birthday present he had for Sengoku behind his back. There was not much left to save from his birthday, but he hoped that it would make him smile genuinely, even if it was for a moment. When he entered, he saw his friend trying to hide behind a book.

“Sengoku, am I bothering you?”, he asked gently.

“Come in.”, Sengoku said.

“Did...something happen to your bed?”, Saeki asked when he saw the two futons neatly lined up next to each other. “And your crystal collection for that matter?”

“Bug infestations.”, Sengoku yawned. “Believe me, it took me by surprise as well.”

Saeki sat cross legged next to him, stretching a bit, admiring the posters and charts that covered the walls. He would have enjoyed the silence, but this time it felt a bit pressing and uncomfortable.

“I-”, they both started simultaneously. They looked at each other and Sengoku quickly looked back down. “After you.”, Saeki said.

“No, y-you go first.”, Sengoku said. “It was nothing that important anyway.”, he said, swallowing the invisible clump in his throat.

“You want to talk about today?”, Saeki suggested. It left a literal bad aftertaste in his mouth, but he also wished to sort out Sengoku’s feelings, even if it were selfish of him.

Sengoku sighed. “Don’t sweat it, it was bound to happen anyway.”, he said, putting his book down and facing away. “She always was like that.”, he trailed off.

“Ah.”, Saeki noted. “But, you still loved her, didn’t you?”

“I did.”, Sengoku muttered. “I just...”

Sengoku grasped at the sheet. He turned around and looked Saeki straight in the eyes.

“I really want to know what happened back in the bathroom. With you. And Chie.”

For once, Sengoku’s eyes pierced Saeki’s. It was difficult to recollect the unpleasant memories he had.

“I’m not really sure it’s worth talking about.”, Saeki said. He brushed his hair and scratched his neck. “And you might be better off not knowing, trust me...”

“I trusted you.”, Sengoku said. “And I am ready to trust you again to recount me everything that happened. It concerns my ex-girlfriend and my...best friend.”

Saeki looked away, but found that his hand was restrained by Sengoku’s . It was a gentle hold, that would have easily allowed Saeki to escape, but its tenderness and Sengoku’s pleading eyes made him give in.

“Please.”

And he started. He didn’t spare a single detail, and word after word rolled from his tongue. From when they met, to her behaviour in the karaoke room, to the events in the bathroom. Sengoku didn’t interrupt him once, but there were moments when Saeki felt like he had to take a break for Sengoku to recover from the tale.

“I am very sorry to tell you all this.”, Saeki finished. Sengoku looked at him solemnly. “Are you alright?”, he asked carefully.

After a pause, Sengoku opened his mouth: “I should be more worried about you. She...she forced herself on you and assaulted you.”

Despite trying his hardest, Sengoku’s lip was trembling. He’d knew it’d come to it, eventually. None of his relationships seemed to last more than a month, so when Chie stayed with him, it felt like a miracle occurred, despite his feelings for Saeki butting in now and then. Of course it hurt when she started making him jealous on purpose, but that’s what they all do, don’t they? He considered himself lucky. But now, it hurt more, in unexplainable ways.

Saeki saw his face, and decided to keep his tongue. While it definitely frustrated him that she had forced herself on him, and that he admittedly got a bit emotional over it, none of it could really compare to what Sengoku was feeling now. Looking at his downward gaze, his malleable cheeks illuminated by the nightstand and his strained expression, he did the one thing that felt right.

Sengoku had trouble keeping his emotions from Chie interfering with his feelings for Saeki, but failed spectacularly when he found himself getting pulled into Saeki’s arms. Their height difference was barely noticeable when he felt Saeki’s cheeks brushing past his ear. Not having any strength or will left to object, he slowly moved his arms towards Saeki’s back. He was right about the pyjamas being very soft, but he left out the part where the wearer provided most of the comfort.

Saeki felt relieved when he felt Sengoku’s hands reach up his sides. Despite Sengoku’s occasional shuddering, he managed to keep his hold steady and strong. He started stroking his back through the thin fabric of his shirt,  moving his hands higher to softly massage his shoulders. The exposed neck of his friend was red and felt very hot to the touch. He hoped that he could convey a fraction of his feelings this way.

Sengoku let himself melt away in Saeki’s embrace. The soft touches that he delivered were soothing, and despite Sengoku himself getting flustered at the contact, he didn’t want it to end. His negative emotions seeped away through the slow rising of Saeki’s chest, despite his own heart spinning out of control. The hand on his shoulder moved up towards his neck, and caressed his hair. Every movement made Sengoku cling even harder to Saeki, not caring about the temperature difference when he buried his blushing face into the crook of his neck.

He still smelled so good.

They kept embracing each other until Sengoku’s heartbeat started to match Saeki’s. Uneventfully, they gradually let go.

“Feel better?”, Saeki asked.  Hearing his voice from close by made Sengoku want to jump back in his arms, but he resisted the temptation. “My mom- mother taught me that hugs once in a while should feel pretty good.”

“It was...pretty nice.”, Sengoku admitted. Having calmed down, he decided to pull out the courage he didn’t knew he had. “Sae, can I ask you a question? It’s a stupid one but, you know.”

Saeki stared at him. He was so annoying when he did that, but Sengoku found it in his heart to forgive him. “Go on.”

“You know, a few months back, you said that you wouldn’t date me if you were a girl.”, Sengoku mumbled. “Does that opinion still stand?”

Saeki was taken aback by his directness. He would have teased him, but decided to give his honest opinion.

“No.”

“H-huh? Why not? I-I’ve been trying to better myself since then, and I honestly think that maybe, I’m not the worst guy out there. I mean, of course, I’m not you but sti-”

“Don’t panic so much.”, Saeki said, moving his hand towards Sengoku’s cheek. “I wouldn’t date you as a girl, because I’ve fallen for you as a guy.”

Sengoku stopped in his movements. His brain short circuited once again, and the peace he gained from cuddling with Saeki transformed in a torrent of emotions, whirling inside his chest. His heartbeat rose, his palms got sweaty and his breathing grew deeper than usual. If Sengoku looked flustered earlier, right now he would look like the forbidden fruit from paradise.

“W-what did you say?”

“Don’t panic so much?”

“No after that.”

“I wouldn’t date you as a girl.”

“No, after that!”

“What are you getting at Sengoku?”

Saeki looked the same as ever. Sengoku knew what he had said, but his friend refused to cooperate.

Seeing Sengoku’s reactions filled Saeki with joy, but he wasn’t going to give in until he could squeeze the words from Sengoku.

“Ah, it is getting late. Is it okay if I go get something to drink and we both turn in early?”, Saeki said, pretending to stand up.

“Wait, no, stay!”, Sengoku exclaimed as he pulled on Saeki’s sleeve. “I-I uh...”

“You?”

He succeeded in making Saeki stay, but he wasn’t really sure how to continue.

“I, uhm.”

“Hm?”

“I!”

“You!”

Saeki was amused at his attempts, but a guilty feeling crept upon him soon after.

“I’m sorry if I rushed you.”, Saeki smiled. “I suddenly realized this might have been a bit too soon and perhaps you ne-”

Saeki was interrupted when Sengoku suddenly flew at him. He got squeezed and Sengoku pressed his face on his chest.

“I...ike...u.”, he mumbled in his sweater. There. The embarrassment would surely persist and he would never live it down, but at least he got it off his chest.

For how adorable Sengoku was being, Saeki could barely move his arms and needed to breath. “Sengoku...Mind saying that to my face? I couldn’t quite understand you.”

“...o.”, Sengoku said, putting most of his weight on Saeki’s legs.

“I need. To breath.”

“I’m not going to let you.”, Sengoku said quickly as he lifted his face from Saeki’s chest, re-crashing shortly after.

Saeki struggled to get loose from the orange haired monkey. He’d love to cuddle, oh how much his body longed to embrace Sengoku once again, but being restrained like this...Well, he wasn’t really sure about it. It actually felt pretty pleasant, but his lungs cried for air.

Sengoku sensed the racing heart of Sae. Whether it was because he was startled, being asphyxiated or simply excited didn’t matter to him. For once, he just wanted to hold him really close. He wanted to touch him, feel him, and be with him. He wanted to let loose in a way he couldn’t have done so carelessly with his girlfriends, in a way that he knew Saeki wouldn’t mind. But that was for later.

The only thing that mattered for him now was his precious Libra.

Over time, Sengoku’s grip loosened enough for Saeki to breath normally. Having accepted his fate, Saeki returned the gesture by  running his fingers through Sengoku’s curls.

“Sengoku, do you remember when you did that fortune booth?”, Saeki asked. “Because I do.”

He felt Sengoku moving his head around, but not actually attempting to speak.

“You said the person I was destined to be with had brown hair, am I right?”

No response.

“And that they would have something to do with the letters S and K right? At first, I didn’t really believe it. You must probably have known that I bleached my hair to this platinum colour.”

Saeki closed his eyes. “But maybe you were reading both of our futures.”

“Were you doubting my reading?”, Sengoku exclaimed desperately, releasing Saeki and jumping up.

“Well, not really, it was just a bit fishy.”, Saeki said, startled by the sudden loss of his warmth source.

“But now you admit that it worked, right?”, Sengoku asked.

“Well, what do you think?”, Saeki replied.

Once again, Sengoku felt a surge of frustration well up. When he used that annoying, irritating stare of him, that was effective at piercing Sengoku’s defences.

“Is there something on my face?”, Sengoku asked.

“Yeah.”, Saeki answered.

“W-what?”, Sengoku asked as he subconsciously touched his face. He didn’t know when he started to become so self-conscious, but here he was, acting like a girl that got complimented by her crush.

“Cute eyes, a cute nose and-“, Saeki quickly moved in, pecking Sengoku’s lips for a sliver of time, “-a cute mouth.”

* * *

 

“Get out of my own bathroom!”, Sengoku yelled as he kept knocking on the door. Miss Sengoku had already ascended the stairs, wondering what the ruckus was about.

“Kiyosumi, what happened!? You look so dishevelled!”

The thought of Sengoku’s messy hair made Saeki chuckle. After he had done that small display of affection, Sengoku turned into a furious ball of ginger madness. He immediately pulled back and threw a pillow right in Saeki’s face, yes, his face! Not knowing what happened, Saeki peeked out from behind the pillow and saw Sengoku rummaging through his baggage to retrieve a boxing glove. Not risking whatever he was planning, Saeki quickly got to his feet and ran to the bathroom, locking it from the inside.

“Sae has locked himself up in the bathroom.”, Sengoku said.

Unbeknownst to Saeki, he had just stolen his very first kiss. Sure, he was fine kissing the head, hands, cheeks, nose and whatnot of his ex-girlfriends, but he always wanted to reserve the mouth for when the real “spark” finally happened. When Sengoku was hundred percent sure that he had met his soulmate.

At least, that’s what his Nadi leaf had said.

And Saeki had ruined it.

“Now, why don’t you try asking him to come out nicely.”, Sengoku’s mother suggested.

“Listen to your mom, Sengoku! Be more gentle!”

“It’s only a boxing glove!”

“Miss, I don’t even know what I did wrong, please talk some sense into your son.”

“Now, Kiyosumi, give me that boxing glove. And no pouting!”

Sengoku threw the glove haphazardly in his mother’s arms.

“Thank you very much. Saeki, it’s safe to come out now!”, she cheered.

They heard some fumbling with the lock, and a moment later Saeki flashed his face, to immediately receive a punch in the gut from Sengoku.

“Oh dear, that’s not very nice.”, Sengoku’s mother berated him, while she helped Saeki get up to his feet. “What did the young man here do?”

“He stole something very important from me.”

“What could he possibly have stolen from you that has any value? Your virginity?”, Sengoku’s mother laughed, dusting off the bunny pyjamas.

“As if that has any value!”, his father chimed in from downstairs. Without even being in the same room as him, Sengoku sensed that he had drunk again.

But for Saeki everything clicked. So his suspicion about Sengoku kissing with nails involved was wrong. He felt relieved, but a bit disappointed that his curiosity to how it worked would never be satisfied. He desperately needed to wash away the taste of Chie’s mouth, but using Sengoku as a makeshift  mouth cleaner would feel a bit trashy, so he decided to just take a quick nip. And now he had the internal bleeding to make up for it. If the first kiss wasn’t romantic, the second wouldn’t be either.

“Alright, the manly emotions have been expressed, why don’t you go back to your room now and try to not murder each other.”, she said, guiding them gently by their shoulders.

Dropping them in front of the room, she went downstairs and muttered a silent “Kids.”

Sengoku dropped to the ground, while Saeki walked around the room.

“Sengoku, why did you do that?”, Saeki asked, rubbing the spot where Sengoku’s fist had met his stomach. “Look, it’s bruising all over.”

“Stop unbuttoning your shirt Sae.”

“But it looks really purple, don’t you think?”

Sengoku looked away from Saeki’s attempt at flashing his abs at him.

“C’mon, at least take a look at the havoc you caused on my perfect body.”, Saeki whined. “Or are you still mad that I stole your first kiss?”

Sengoku flinched and looked at Saeki like a deer in the headlights. “How did you know that!?”, he yelled.

“Ah, my suspicions were confirmed! I got your first kiss!”, Saeki said as he rolled around. “I got a confession, a hug, your first kiss...what more do you think I can get out of you today?”

“Stop it man! You’re embarrassing.”, Sengoku said, covering his reddening face with both his hands.

“Don’t look so down, did you not like it?”, Saeki asked, putting his face uncomfortably close next to Sengoku’s.

“It’s j-just...nothing.”, Sengoku said as he dropped flat on his futon, head facing the pillow. He knew that Saeki probably wasn’t that gung ho about the whole “first time has to be special” kind of thing. But Sengoku was.

Saeki dropped and kneeled over Sengoku. He placed his hands on his shoulder, and started moving his shoulder mass in circles.

“Are you trying to massage me?”, Sengoku asked drowsily.

“I’m going to knead the answers out of you.”, Saeki said. “Was I bad at kissing you?”

The movements did make Sengoku more calm and relaxed, but it still wasn’t a question he could easily answer.

“It wasn’t bad.”, he answered very abrupt.

‘Then why did you assault me like some madman?”, Saeki continued.

“I don’t really want to tell you.”, Sengoku sighed. A small part of him wanted to, but he was afraid that Saeki of all people might ridicule him.

Saeki paused and moved on to rubbing Sengoku’s back muscles. He was surprised at how sturdy he was, but it wasn’t exactly new for him because he was used to everyone in his team developing a large amount of them.

“Still. Ten girls and not a single one deserved your lips. I admire your patience.”

“It’s not like that and you know it.”, Sengoku mustered out. “How many have fallen to your charms?”, he asked. Saeki must have already locked lips with many girls, seeing as they, including his ex girlfriend Chie, literally threw themselves at him like ants to honey.

“Hm. What do you think?”, Saeki questioned, punching him a few times on his flanks.

“Two or three.”, Sengoku splurted out. “Maybe more, but it doesn’t look like you have a lot of interesting stories to tell.”

“You were my second kiss.”, Saeki said. Sengoku immediately zoomed from underneath his legs and scrambled up.

“W-wait, does that mean your first was with, you know, Chie?”

Her name felt repulsing to Saeki and he wished that Sengoku wouldn’t have made such a big deal about it. “It was.”

Sengoku didn’t really know how to feel. Saeki might have not minded the whole first kiss thing, but having it with a complete stranger he didn’t love was, just a bit saddening. At least Saeki was his first.

“Well...don’t you feel a bit, you know~”, Sengoku muttered, treading around the subject.

“I got a bit emotional over it, I admit, but I think there will be plenty of moments from now on that’ll make me forget it.’

The stare Sengoku had fallen for. Maybe there was a bit of melancholy in his eyes, but it was nothing worth talking. Saeki turned around and let himself fall on the futon where Sengoku once lay. “Let’s call it a day.”, he smiled.

Sengoku sat beside him and gathered the remainder of his courage for one last push. “Do you maybe want to try it again”?”

Saeki looked up to see Sengoku hovering over him. He saw his reflection in Sengoku’s half droopy soft blue eyes, and small, almost invisible freckles on his cheek pads. He had to resist reaching out for them, tracing the small blemishes that he tried to cover up with all of his sister’s cosmetics.

“No, I don’t want to kiss with people that don’t love me.”, Saeki grinned.

Sengoku realized that for all of the lovey-dovey atmosphere they had going, he still hadn’t really made his confession. And he knew that Saeki was the petty kind of person that would push him until he did it.

“It’s not like you said it either!”, Sengoku retaliated.

“I love you.”

Sengoku really needed something to drink. Saeki would already have noticed how drenched Sengoku’ s back was,  but he could not freely change his shirt right now. Saeki was giving him a very expectant look right now.

“I-I.”

Why were the words so hard to say. In his previous relationships, the word smoothly rolled of his tongue, but now it felt like his brain couldn’t keep up with it.

A few seconds of stammering and stretched silences later, Sengoku gave up and collapsed. He was so sure of his feelings, but outing them was so incredibly difficult.

“Too bad, you ruined the mood.”, Saeki stated simply. “Night.”, he said as he threw the sheet over him and curled up in its warmth.

* * *

 

“Sengoku, what the heck! Why are we doing this?”

“J-just...a bit more...hang in.”

“I’m tired and cramping and exhausted!”, Saeki yelled. “I’ll have your head for this later.”, he grunted.

“Fine by me.”, Sengoku groaned. “If you can still yell at me, try to keep up with me as well.”

Saeki’s whole body felt immensely sore. He was used to taking long beach walks in Chiba in the evening, but this was too much of a change. Firstly, they weren’t just walking, but jogging upwards a hill. Secondly, it was almost midnight. Thirdly, he was not prepared for the excursion and only had his normal shoes and pyjamas on. He could barely snatch his jacket with him when Sengoku suddenly threw him out the covers and dragged him outside.

“Trust me!”, he had said. And Saeki did, for the first ten minutes. When it became apparent that their little trip would take longer than that, he started protesting and whining to return home, but Sengoku would not give in. Thirty minutes must have had passed already and Saeki’s legs were screaming for him to give up. Luckily Tokyo was well lit, but now they had already entered the path in the forest leading to the hill. The only benefit it brought was that people wouldn’t stare if they saw two scarcely dressed young men run through the city, but Saeki would gladly take that if it meant getting out of the estranged, dirty cold woods.

Sengoku must have really done something to him.

“Sengoku, what are you trying to do, honestly?”, Saeki asked. As usual, Sengoku didn’t say anything and didn’t slow down his pace.

Sengoku himself was catching his breath, but he knew there was only one thing left to do. The phone in his pocket had been buzzing for a while, but knowing his parents, they’d let him be.

He was reaching for the top.

He knew that Saeki kept trailing farther and farther behind him, but none of it mattered. Because he knew that he’d catch up to him.

Reaching the end of the forest path, Sengoku saw the empty valley, bar some teenagers that were having fun by the river. Blocking them out, he turned around to see that the once decorated plateau had exchanged its festival theme for a more sober construction site. Slowly walking down the incline, he let himself fall in the grass, regretting choosing fashion above function for his raincoat.

Saeki arrived much later, almost worrying Sengoku that he had turned around and left him to his unpredictable behaviour. But Sengoku couldn’t feel more relieved when he heard the panting and rustling of grass coming from behind him.

Saeki exhaled deeply when he saw Sengoku breathing heavily in the grass. He joined him, dropping right next to him and resting his head on the frosty grass. The autumn weather made their breath emerge like white clouds, and the sweat that transpired on their forehead cooled both of them even more.

The crazy racing of their heart eventually slowed down to a rhythmic tempo. Acknowledging the atmosphere, they both waited for the other to break the silence.

“What do you think about this mood?”, Sengoku asked Saeki, keeping his eyes focussed on the distant sky. It was more cloudy than usual, but the sparkling lights of the far away stars pierced through the veil.

“You killed it when I had to run hundreds of kilometres up a hill.”, Saeki replied. “Your parents looked like they were going to call the cops.”

“They won’t.”, Sengoku replied.

“You found quite the interesting spot.”, Saeki said. The failure of the double date had long since washed away from his mind, but the memories he had with Sengoku didn’t.

“I think-“, Sengoku searched and squeezed Saeki’s hand, “-it’s because everything must have had started that day.”

“Started? Started what?”, Saeki asked, eyeing the cloud that had just passed the moon.

“My feelings.”, Sengoku answered. Later on, he would be surprised at how clear his voice had sounded.

“Is that a confession?”

Sengoku paused a bit before he continued. “No, not really.”

He sat up and motioned for Saeki to do the same. “I’m going to tell you something, and you have to promise to not make fun of me or ridicule me, okay?”

“So serious.”, Saeki said, adjusting his jacket.

“I really am, Sae.”, Sengoku said.

Saeki rubbed Sengoku’s knuckles and gave him the most sincere stare he could muster. “Go on.”

Sengoku inhaled deeply and started: “You know, when I was little, I kind of feared rejection, so my parents did their best to place me into the most uncomfortable situations they could imagine. And well, I guess it turned me into the person I am today. I look pretty flashy, but you know how...plain I actually am, I guess.”

Saeki nodded reassuringly.

“A-anyway, why I chose this spot, well. Back when, you know, everything happened, I wondered why you kept up with me. And before I knew it, I kind of started admiring how honest you were able to be with yourself.”

Sengoku casted his gaze downwards. He wasn’t really embarrassed, but it felt weird outing it like this to his friend.

“I might have started falling for you that night, well I’m not really sure, you can’t just put a time stamp on it, because even after I met Chie, I still occasionally thought about you, like, when something just pops up in your mind and you can’t get it away, no matter how much you try. I really liked how gentle you were, as if all your interactions were calculated, but at the same time not, because you still manage to look so carefree, even now. I realized later how much I liked the bitter tea you made back then, the encouraging messages and our one-sided conversations about subjects you knew nothing about, but still were interested in. Not only that, I also grew to like how irritating and oblivious you could be and well, you smell real nice and your looks definitely helped a lot but-“

Sengoku took a deep breath from his rambling.

“I kind of, love you I guess.”, he said sheepishly, glancing up to see Saeki looking at him.

When Saeki doesn’t know how to respond to things or when he’s put on the spot, he activates starry eyes mode. This translates into a piercing stare and a blank expression, while the mini Saeki’s in his brain are processing the input that was given to him. Autopilot Saeki is put in charge of the brain to mouth filtering, and usually does its best and truest job. And all this regardless of the circumstances. As Sengoku would find out.

“Thanks.”

Sengoku looked up to see Saeki staring right through him.

“And who keeps talking about ruining the mood, you idiot!”, Sengoku yelled as he turned around to give Saeki the cold shoulder.

Saeki shook awake from his momentarily stupor and reached for Sengoku: “Ah, no, I mean, really thanks. I appreciate it.”

While autopilot Saeki didn’t do his best job at wording it, he honestly liked the praise. If the moon had been a bit fuller that day, Sengoku would have noticed the red tips of Saeki’s ears.

“You don’t sound really sincere.”, Sengoku pouted, slapping Saeki’s hand away.

“C’mon Sengoku. You know that I love you as well.”, Saeki said. The cold was getting to him, and he could not hide the shiver that went through his voice.

“Then, if I can ask...What do you like about me?”

Crap. All the mini Saeki’s in his head were running around, rummaging through the buckets and beach castles to find the right words. But Saeki had not prepared himself for that. Falling for Sengoku felt the same as the ocean grinding stones to sand. It happened gradually, and unlike Sengoku, he could not really pinpoint an exact moment when it happened. Maybe it was exposure, maybe it was how utterly adorable he could be when he was being passionate about his astrology. Maybe it was his silent, hard working plain image that he hid, and only let Saeki see, maybe it was his unrelenting easy-going mood.

“I don’t know.”

“Huh!? What do you mean?”, Sengoku said as he turned around to see Saeki. He had snapped out of autopilot, but he still couldn’t quite find the words for it.

“I simply fell for you.”, Saeki replied. “I can’t think of anything in specific. Although you are good looking.”

This was not the answer that Sengoku had wanted when he dragged Saeki up here. Even though deep inside, he knew Saeki well enough that he couldn’t possibly imagine anything else.

“Is that it?’, Sengoku asked, lifting his chin from his knees.

“I could rattle off all your personality traits, behaviour and habits. But I think it’s easier to say that I just fell for all of them.”, Saeki replied.

Sengoku knew that Saeki didn’t meant for it to come across as impersonal, but the way he stated it made it so easy for anyone who hadn’t spend time with Saeki, to accept it as a vague way of evading the question.

Noting the silence, Saeki continued: “Now if you were to ask me about your looks, I could definitely say which parts I like and which parts I don’t.”

He turned Sengoku’s head so he was facing him.

“I really like your bright orange hair. It’s refreshing and eye-catching, so I’d never lose sight of you.”, he said, ruffling it a bit and putting some of the strands behind Sengoku’s ear. “I like your eyebrows, the way how they are strewn around on your forehead as if someone ran an uneven razor over them.”

“They’re not that bad.”, Sengoku retaliated.

“I like your droopy eyelids, the way they make you always give the bed stare to someone is quite cute, and you look pretty exhausted all the time.”, Saeki said as he moved his thumb across Sengoku’s temple. “Your face looks really soft and punchable, because your upper lip is a tad too big and low, but I like it.”

Sengoku started heating up again as Saeki’s tender touch moved across his face. “You have a well proportioned body, and I like it as well, especially your arm muscles.”

“Then, what about my looks, do you dislike?”, Sengoku mumbled underneath his breath.

“I can’t think of anything at the moment.”, Saeki said. “I should have just said that I really love everything about you.”

Saeki’s hand rested on the back of Sengoku’s neck. He pulled him a bit closer, and Sengoku closed his eyes, not knowing what to expect. The soft thud that followed was not one of a kiss, but from Saeki’s forehead hitting his between their bangs.

“Does that sound sincere enough?”

Sengoku looked up to see Saeki’s eyes staring at him. They seemed to radiate a faint gentleness, unlike anything Sengoku was used to get from him. For the first time, Sengoku felt like he was looking at him, and him alone.

Stuck in the moment, Sengoku closed his eyes and moved forward, disconnecting their hair.

Only to be halted by Saeki’s finger. “Not yet.”

Sengoku pulled back, but was restrained by Saeki’s hand.

“I still have to ask you something.”, Saeki said, as his free hand rummaged in his pockets, trying to find a special object.

Sengoku awaited his question in silence. The clouds had moved over the moon, and the shadow that befell them dimmed the mischievous sparkle in Saeki’s eyes.

“Which one do you like more, astrology or astronomy?”

Sengoku didn’t need to think about the answer. He was going to be true to himself.

“You, obviously!”, he yelled as he sprang forward and pulled Saeki towards him, closing the gap and locking lips. Saeki stumbled backwards and let the embroidered Sagittarius bracelet that rested in his hand tumble a few meters down the hill. He’d retrieve it later. But the only thing that mattered to him was taking in as much as he could of Sengoku.

It was a bit sloppy, neither of them having much experience, but that didn’t stop them from attempting a second time.

“At least you taste better than your girlfriend.”, Saeki joked in between their sessions.

“Is that a compliment?’, Sengoku asked.

“What do you think?”, Saeki asked, cutting off Sengoku’s reply.

The strong bond that had grown between them made up for all the technical errors, ignoring them in favour of feeling the love of the other. Stumbling around, Saeki fell on his back and saw the moonlight permeate the orange tips of Sengoku’s hair.

“Sengoku, look.”, he said, pointing at the sky. “One day, let’s both travel there, so we can hang out with our dearest Libra and Sagittarius.”

Sengoku looked up and replied: “Sae, you’re not really good at science either huh?”

“Even if I’m not, you can always teach me.”, Saeki said, directing Sengoku’s attention back to him.

“You idiot.”, Sengoku replied as he closed the gap once again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd like to thank everyone that supported me during the writing of this fic (you know who you are!). It's the first time I've written things like this, so I didn't imagine I would be very good at it, and I'm aware that my punctuation does not follow the standard fiction rules. To the Saegoku fans that joked about needing a 50k slow burnfic, well, here it is. I hope I could accurately portray the development and characterization, something I struggled with as one of the main characters is not exactly my favorite.  
> Summarized, thank you very much for reading this, and I dearly hope you enjoyed it.


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